SIR, My wife Penny and I ran a B&B in Monmouth for some years. One day over breakfast, a visitor said: "I don't understand how Monmouth is so lovely and so different from other towns." "How do you mean?" We asked. He replied: "Well, so many towns are all the same – same shops, same boring architecture!". We then said: "It's because Monmouth people care so much about their town and have fought heated battles over the decades to protect our heritage from damaging development". On a positive note, in the 1990s we stopped Tesco from building on the Dixton Road site and allowed Waitrose to build their new store in Monnow Street. The coming of Waitrose helped rejuvenate the lower part of the town. And, Oak House, at the corner of Monk Street and Priory Street, was saved from demolition in the 1960s by Monmouth Civic Society. It has now been beautifully restored and complements the other buildings at this crossroads. We need to keep people coming into the town itself. Why build a new nondescript pub close to a busy roundabout and dual carriageway, when we have 12 historic pubs in town? The oldest dates back to around 1589 – when Elizabeth I was on the throne! Don't let us compound what was done in 1966, when the A40 bypass was opened. This  road cut the town off from the River Wye, breaking a link between the town and the river that had survived since the time of the Romans in the early 1st century. This roadside development will be the first sight southbound traffic has of both Monmouth and Wales, and it gives a wrong impression of what Monmouth has to offer. Monmouth Civic Society trusts that the county council will safeguard Monmouth from this threat and reject this unwanted development. Grahame Thomas, Chairman, (Monmouth Civic Society)