SIR — In early February the Free Press reported that the district council planners had granted permission for a care home off Anchor Street in Watchet.
The Anchor Street junction on to Swain Street is one of the most difficult and dangerous to exit in the area .
The developers did a traffic survey to gauge the traffic flow - but it was done in October/November - not the busiest time in Watchet!
Access to the site at the top of Anchor Street is difficult as the road is barely wide enough for the brewery and refuse lorries, yet all the construction traffic and all visitors and staff will have to use this narrow road, as well as the locals, some of whom use mobility aids to walk and cross the junction to get to the doctors' surgery.
The planning officers said no, the highways authority said no, the Environment Agency said no - but the planning committee must be better qualified than all these very experienced people, or did they just want to say "we have built a care home" while in office?
Perhaps, in case there is a flood, there will be a slipway built to rescue residents.
I went to Gloucestershire with HM Coastguard to assist in the floods there and spoke to many people who said they had not had serious flooding for 40 years but they had water up to seven feet deep and on a flood plain just like the Watchet site.
Highways said access was poor. The cost of a road crash fatality is now in excess of £1.9million. Now to make things even worse, there is a single yellow line on one side of the junction allowing parking right to the corner, making visibility even worse.
Like most council decisions, the residents' opinions do not count but they have to put up with the consequences.
Nick Tapp,
Watchet.