Cllr Paul Spooner is absolutely right, Hugh Coakley does write great articles about our town centre.

But he is completely wrong about me “supporting” decline in town centre retail.

I have “reported” the state of our shops so I recommend he and our residents read the facts in the Dragon’s various excellent articles.

My own letter headed “Use them or lose them“ in 2018 summarises my personal approach to our shops. Actions speak louder than words. On North Street market for example, I buy all our fruit and veg every week, fresh fish regularly, leaf tea and fresh coffee sometimes and flowers for my wife far too infrequently (she agrees).

We use supermarkets and other stores but prefer local independent shops where possible and look forward to having more choice when Covid restrictions ease.

Shopping should be about personal choice, not politics. These are my personal preferences, independent of R4GV.

All I would request is that residents look around for their shopping post-Covid and support our local shops and markets where possible. I will shop in the High Street on Tuesday at The Farmers’ Market. I hope you will be there too, Cllr Spooner.