Sir, Clr. Calver's letter (After dark firing a small price to pay, January 20 issue) infers that all the members of the Manorbier community who object to the proposed night firing, are opposed to the training of British troops. Exactly the opposite is true. Not one person, I and others have contacted about this issue, is opposed to training, and all the individuals and bodies who have sent letters to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority opposing the application, including members of the campaign group, fully support the training needs of the British soldier. What Clr. Calver seems to have difficulty accepting, is that Manorbier community has suffered the effects of a 'fearsome noise' emanating from the range in prolonged silence for years. The MOD have 'put on' the people of this community for far too long without taking any measures to reduce the noise 'nuisances' generated, increasing the range's use over the last few years to include low-flying aircraft exercises. Now the MOD plan to introduce night firing, stating it will have no impact on the local community; this is just a missile too far and the community are saying enough is enough. The MOD do have alternative sites available for training, with no restriction on night firing or impact on a local community; they fire missiles all day and night there already. What we, as a community, are saying is: if the MOD want to fire at night, now is the time to go to these alternative sites. Under the Human Rights Act, all members of the community have the right to peace and quite in their homes. All the monitoring appraisals by the MOD and PCC have shown all noise levels well in excess of the 65db threshold of a noise nuisance - many almost twice this, and well beyond the acceptable levels set by the World Health Organisation. It is time to refrain from trying to use the tactic of emotional blackmail on members of our community, saying our soldiers need training and Manorbier is the only place. It won't work this time, our community now knows, despite previous denials that there was nowhere else to train, that there are alternative sites both in the UK and abroad.
C.L.Cochrane, Manorbier.