Liz, my wife, and I are now both in our late 80s and, being now housebound, my burning love of Dartmouth in general and Bayard’s Cove in particular is confined to the heartbreak of experiencing the progressive decline of almost every aspect of life in our town.

With our council in a state of disarray; small groups of people taking powers, such as cutting down our palm trees; with the alleged dramatic downturn of footfall in our shops; with the prospect of high-cost maintenance dumping by South Hams District Council on our ill-prepared town council, which has massively increased its element of council tax, I believe that the announcement of the collapse of the promises made by Torbay and South Devon NHS? Foundation Trust comes, for me, as the final straw in the tragedy of the past few years with Dartmouth becoming a progressively less attractive place to live both for our young people with families and, with the closure of banks and other services being withdrawn, a very much less attractive proposition for holidaymakers.

The purpose of this note, which I am not in any way qualified to write, is to try to determine whether or not the leading people in our town – and it is generally known who they are – have sufficient love for this beautiful place to come together for what may be termed a public meeting, so that many townspeople, so often not able to represent themselves adequately, can be shepherded together by our town leaders to stand and fight for the urgent provision of some adequate medical provision in Dartmouth.

I am told that even our small but beautiful clinic in Mayor’s Avenue could be sold soon, when this could be the perfect building to serve at least the lower town.

My fear, having spoken privately to just a couple of influential people in the town is that there just does not seem to be the fighting spirit any more, either at political or social level, to challenge those people, including Dr Sarah Wollaston, our MP, who helped make promises about our future medical care, which now lie in tatters..

In asking the editor to publish this email, I can only hope that everyone who claims to love Dartmouth will step forward to challenge those who would see our town diminished in any way and that, as a matter of particular urgency, our most senior people, together with the town council, local businesses, clubs, and the many other organisations in town, such as Dartmouth Caring, our Patients Participation Group, the Hospital League of Friends, and so on, will immediately put their names to a collective effort for the salvation of the town we are all so blessed to be part of.

Quite how these powers can be brought to a focus, I’m not at all sure but I know in my heart that what now besets us, with the latest withdrawal of our medical care, is probably the very last chance we shall all have to defend our liveli­hoods – and the future of our children.

Philip Roe

Bayard’s Cove, Dartmouth