Sir, There have been a number of letters of late concerning the current White Lion Street and school developments in Tenby and it may be helpful to readers to have another perspective on them. When the Royal Gatehouse and associated developments were put forward for planning consent the National Park allowed all of the commercial and residential components asked for, only asking in return (urged on by community bodies in Tenby) for the inclusion of a cinema or some other such facility that would provide a community benefit. The applicant therefore included a cinema of such size and layout that the cynical amongst us thought it was designed to fail. And fail it did - the applicant came back with evidence that no cinema operator would take what it was offering and asked for the condition to be relaxed. Whereupon the National Park, again urged on by community bodies in Tenby, said "No, try harder to provide something of community benefit." So the applicant appealed and the inspector from Cardiff Bay said "do whatever you like." I do not have inside knowledge on the school development, but having in my career worked at a senior level in the public sector, I know how it works. If the local authority has a school that needs some maintenance and upgrading, it is difficult to find the funds. However, if the school can be folded into an ambitious scheme that is dear to the heart of the government - in this case, the Welsh Assembly's wish to promote Welsh language education - large capital sums suddenly become available. I would not presume to discuss the merits or otherwise of having a Welsh language school in Tenby, but I am pretty certain that a good one could have been provided at much lower cost if common sense had been allowed to prevail. Devolution is a good thing. Decisions need to be made as close to the communities concerned as realistically possible. However, I would like to know if those who have lived in Tenby for much longer than I have feel that in practical terms Cardiff is any closer than London. Even Haverfordwest sometimes seems a long, long way away! Douglas Fraser,

Tenby.