Roger Purvey, of Hanover Cottages, Dartmouth, writes:

I refer to Cllr Tony Fyson’s letter, Chronicle, October 21, ­concerning the planning application submitted by the Costa coffee chain.

I agree with him in every respect, bar one.

He said: ‘This application appears likely to succeed, since there seems to be no good ­planning reason why it can be turned down.’

There is in fact a very good planning reason why this application should be turned down. There is a group of ­residential properties called Hanover Cottages at the rear of this retail unit, which would be directly affected by these ­proposals. I know, I live in one of them.

This small cluster of ­properties seems to have escaped the notice of the ­planning section at South Hams Council, since none of us have received planning consultation notices, which planning ­authorities are legally obliged to send to all properties immediately surrounding the site of a planning application and that are thus directly affected by it. We residents have been left to find out about this application by stumbling across letters such as Cllr Fyson’s.

The current A1 retail use of this shop unit is relatively benign and sits quite harmoniously with Hanover Cottages. The proposed A3 use, however, is a very different proposition altogether.

It is considerably more ­invasive by virtue of the much greater intensity of use, the problems of storage and removal of food waste and the increase in noise, vibration and odours from the additional mechanical extract equipment required.

These are all valid planning objections, which planning ­officers have to take into account when considering such applications.

It is only hoped that they will deign to venture behind the shop unit to see for themselves the inevitable conflicts of use that will result if this application is approved, and the consequent blight on our properties.

This apart, there is no need for this kind of multinational behemoth in Dartmouth. Dartmouth has a prepon­derance of good-quality ­independent coffee shops and cafes, many very close to this ­particular site.

Cllr Fyson’s letter outlines amply the reasons why Costa should withdraw its application quietly and why it should stick with the big cities, ­airports, retail parks and motorway services, where its product is more suited.