I ASSUME the references to opponents of the Rotherwas Relief Road as "highly motivated people" (Rotherwas firms must battle on') and opposition to unbridled polytunnel development as coming from 'a small, well organised group of articulate people' must be partly to the work of CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England).

In one sense, the references are flattering.

We are highly motivated and it is good to know we are thought of as well organised and articulate.

Our motivation is to protect Herefordshire against thoughtless and inappropriate development.

On Rotherwas we opposed the route but have never opposed the road. We oppose the Bullinghope housing development because it will not provide one unit of affordable housing but instead will be used to fund the road.

We opposed current policies on polytunnels because we believed they should be subject to planning controls in the same way as any other development: a view now belatedly supported by the council as a result of a recent High Court ruling.

Given Herefordshire Council Leader's view that the recent election has given them the mandate to initiate a big housing and road building programme' our motivation will be to ensure the new housing meets the need for affordable housing and is built to the highest standards of design and sustainability - very different to the current position, with little pressure being exerted by council planners on developers to achieve this.

It will be to ensure the thirst for new roads, often paid for by housing developers, is not at the expense of the requirement to provide affordable housing, as at Bullinghope.

It will also be to persuade policy makers that pouring concrete is not always a change for the better but endangers the distinctiveness of Herefordshire.

Pursuing polices of the past which have turned so much of England into a suburban wasteland and which, in many areas, is a cause for regret, is not progress but a failure of imagination.

Our motivation is for something better.

BOB WIDDOWSON, Chairman Herefordshire CPRE