You have printed many letters against them including mine: and in one of them I volunteer to bulldoze them down – Sainsbury's too!

My objection to supermarkets is that they destroy the local communities and have zero input into the personal dedication and socio/political life of the towns on which they prey.

It is the Haverhill people and their quality of life that concern me.

Small towns grow and develop for hundreds of years; and when they really begin to obtain an identity and civic pride, with many local traders and businesses providing fresh local produce and variety to the town, along come the predators to reap the harvest sown by our forebears. Talk about the Great Reaper!

The Town Planning Act has been in force for many years, but what is it for?

When we buy a house we plan the improvements. We do not just live there and wait for the weeds to grow, panes of glass to fall out and the washing machine to expire.

Poor though we may be, we maintain the essential services; and do our best to improve them.

When the town planners take control of us, they supervise our decline.

The other day I ventured out to Sudbury – not dissimilar in size to Haverhill – but what a difference in their market stalls!

There was even a butcher's van with many cuts of meat, tender and tasty as I have found.

Have the 'masterplanners' ever ventured this far abroad?

We can only assume that to go fact-finding in Sudbury would be an epic journey for those so short in sight, and hardly worth filling in an expenses form!

I maintain that the destruction of Haverhill as a shopping centre is deliberate, and to benefit of Bury St Edmunds.

To give them an award is like giving medals to the RAF for allowing the Luftwaffe to bomb Coventry.

Then superstores have buying practices that lead to animal husbandry so horrendous that the RSPCA should hang its head in shame.

Kick the cat up the bum – massive fine or even jail. Play cricket with turkeys – a slap on the wrist!

Load the countryside with masses of chemicals; an award for producing cheap food.

In the meantime the little field mice die and birds that prey on them cannot breed. What sad people we are to applaud superstores!

I cannot vouch for the veracity of the following story, but it seems a party of councillors and their families went to the panto, only to emerge from the theatre in some distress and with the grown-ups openly sobbing.

They were crying their eyes out because the wolf had not been allowed to eat Red Riding Hood.

Frederick Webb,

Biscay Close,

Haverhill.