The Hereford Times has drawn to the attention of Herefordshire residents the appalling proposal to demolish a fine piece of Herefordshire history – the Edwardian rectory in Breinton Road – in order to replace it with housing.

Although I see from the council’s website that formal objections to this proposal have closed – and that it nearly slipped through without Herefordshire residents being aware of it – I am grateful to the Hereford Times for highlighting this cultural vandalism within our county by the Church and I must object in the strongest possible terms to it.

I cannot stress enough that the ‘salami-slicing’ disappearance of parts of our history, along with the disappearance of trees and other landmarks over the decades has led to Hereford’s history and landscape being diminished and downgraded slice by slice. If the Church needs money I suggest it looks to other ways of raising it rather than by obliterating items of our county’s history. Both the

council and the Church need to consider the bigger picture of what their decisions mean in the long term rather than just looking at short-term monetary gain.

We have quite enough new little boxes springing up in every field and village across the county as it is without further blots on our fine landscape and the disappearance of everything that we value.

Mrs Liz Watson

Leominster

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