Kevin Pott, director of Salcombe Deli Ltd, writes: We read in your paper with great concern South Hams Council's plans to open a take away food cafe in the old toilet block by the memorial gardens in Salcombe. As work on the toilets has been on going for the past few weeks, apparently even without planning consent for change of use, is just indicative of disrespect for the planning process. As well as the council's approach to steamrollering such changes, no matter the impact. Since taking over the Salcombe Deli based in the upper end of Fore Street in February 2014, we have worked hard to establish the business as an 11-month trading establishment, supporting the town and more importantly bringing footfall to the upper end of town all year round. We have invested heavily in the business, both in new equipment as well as refitting the shop to support quality in everything we do, and we believe this reflects well on Salcombe as well as our business. As a business trading all year round, we rely on the seasonal increase to cover the more leaner times during winter months, when running costs are high compared to the level of business available. One of the vital sides of our business is takeaway sandwich and drinks, which bring much- needed revenue to balance the low margins of deli produce. While as a business we accept there will always be competition, we are dismayed to find that our local council has decided to directly compete with our core business with, as far as I can see, is a seasonal smash and grab of trade from an independent business. As an independent business, we invest our own money and the hard work we put in is to support our livelihood. Can you imagine how disheartening it is to find our own council tax money being used to directly take business and livelihood from us. What I find even more disturbing is that not one member of the council has had the decency or modicum of respect to speak with us directly to understand the impact of their planned actions. We treat this threat as very serious to our whole business, it will put doubts to our ability to remain trading all year round if we cannot generate enough revenue in the peak season – and in the worse case it may lead to the closure of the business if the impact is to significant, which is hardly constructive to the town's business future. Being in our second year of trading, we had been considering hiring full-time staff to help the business. The immediate impact of this application is to put this on hold until we can asses the impact of this act by the council on our business. At a time when retail businesses continue to look for support from the local council during difficult trading periods, I find it unbelievable that South Hams Council believes establishing direct competition with an independent business is in any way contributing to the well-being and growth of the town. I would love to know how the council can rationalise town and business support for growth with such blatant profiteering at the expense of those who invest hard work and their own money to develop the reputation of the town. We would love to see investment in areas supporting business in the upperend of Salcombe and recognising the importance of these business to the town. Unfortunately this appears to be in short supply.