SIR — In response to the letters in the Free Press dated February 22 and comments made in your report of the preceding week regarding our proposals for a supermarket, I can understand concern from some retailers over the impact of a supermarket.

However, retailing is competitive — for example newspapers are sold by three other retailers in addition to the newsagent in Williton, but this is normal.

Retailers always have to compete for customers by meeting their different needs, and competition can contribute to an improvement in the service that retailers provide.

When I introduced myself to the new greengrocer at 'The Orange Pip' I expected a frosty reception. Instead I met with a response to the effect that "it is only another competitor".

From someone who has upped his game, and is ready for whatever challenges lie ahead, perhaps this is an example to follow.

Similarly, over 80 local businesses have written to the council giving reasons for their support for the proposed supermarket in Williton, including some who have registered their interest in taking space in the scheme.

They all recognise the benefits of competition and the boost the development would provide to the local economy.

They include one or two who live outside West Somerset, for example in Bishops Lydeard, but who have businesses in or close to Williton.

This is a huge endorsement of the project.

The new retailers who have expressed interest — bakers, opticians, dry cleaners and bookshop for example — all believe that being close to a major retailer and free car park is an ideal location.

These new retailers, together with our hardware, clothes shop and garden machinery centre will help to make Williton an attractive destination.

Just as retailers have to adapt, so too do the towns in which they operate.

We have seen the massive effect of the motor car, and now we are seeing the effect of the internet and home delivery.

Williton had more retail space 50 years ago than it does today. Much of the lost space was located on road frontages — an advantage before traffic flows increased, but now, with parking close to the units impossible, people just drive on!

Since the war, Minehead, Taunton, Bridgwater and even Wiveliscombe, Bishops Lydeard and Nether Stowey have all increased their retail offer — in Williton the retail has declined, while the number of houses and residents have increased hugely.

Convenience is vitally important to shoppers and car parking is the key. The shopper will decide where they will go — it is up to the retailer, and the local authorities, to create an attractive environment where people want to visit, where parking is ideally free, and where a longer visit is not penalised — so allowing for shopping to be combined with a coffee or lunch.

Our plans aim to achieve this and bring the benefits seen in other towns, such as Ilminster and Wellington, to Williton.

Our critics do not mention the jobs the proposal would create.

The job market in West Somerset and particularly in Watchet and Williton is fragile. We have seen the disappearance of Tripod Engineering, Poldenvale, Wrigleys and much more recently Riverside Printing — all were substantial employers. Watchet depends hugely on the paper mill.

One of the principal goals of our scheme is to recover business lost to Taunton, Bridgwater and Minehead and thus create more jobs locally.

Many of those in Watchet and Williton currently have to travel to jobs in these locations, costing them severely in petrol — out of taxed income — and in time.

In regard to public opinion on the project, I can do no better than quote from the letter of support received from a company on Roughmoor Trading Estate. Out of 40 employees, 38 signed the letter of support, which welcomed the proposal because "it will bring the town into the 21st century, give people a reason for stopping, allow more people to shop locally and bring job opportunities".

The letter also noted that "with more people in the town, the trade potential for local shops would improve".

I am keen to work with local traders to support their business through advertising their services within the car park and by making the walkway linking the car park and Fore Street attractive, lively and well used.

I believe that Williton can at last benefit from being at a crossroads, and from all the traffic that this brings, by being a place where it is easy to stop, easy and cheap to park, and where the breadth and quality of services it provides makes people want it as "their centre"

David Gliddon,

Managing Director,

J Gliddon & Sons Ltd,

Williton.