Sir,

May I please take this opportunity to respond to the comments made by Mr. John H. T. Griffiths, April 5. Mr. Griffiths is, of course, entitled to his opinion, however I feel a few points that he raises should be clarified.

Most importantly, the 'really valid objection to the proposal' is that Brooklands is home to 40 people who have varying degrees of Alzheimer's and dementia who as human beings, deserve the right to live their days in peace and tranquility. Forty people who lack the mental capacity to speak up against the possibility of living next door to a rubbish dump.

When Pembrokeshire County Council were in the process of looking for a suitable site to relocate the current CAS, there was no public consultation in this process. I do not recall PCC asking local members of the public to come up with suggestions as to where they thought the most suitable site would be and then acting upon the recommendations.

Indeed, the first that Brooklands Nursing Home knew of this proposal was in July 2012. At this point, the site had already been allocated, the plans drawn up and were ready to be submitted imminently.

I am not aware that any of the Brooklands Relatives Support Group are employed either by the PCC planning department or Hyder Consultancy and were, therefore, unable to have a say in the location of this site. I am quite sure, though, that had any of the members of the group been approached, they would have quite happily worked alongside PCC to have suggested an alternative location and would have done this completely free of charge!

For the records, since this proposal, many viable sites have been suggested by various members of the public, but have been dismissed by PCC. One would suspect that too much money has already been spent to now change the plans as a result of public reaction.

The CAS at New Hedges will operate on a much larger scale than the existing one at the Salterns and this will therefore create more noise, more traffic, more rubbish.

The construction phase of the site is estimated to be nine months - would you, Mr. Griffiths, enjoy nine months of an 'eyesore' from your bedroom window? How would you feel if PCC told you that the site would be located at Scotsborough View, would you be happy with this providing that they planted a few trees between your garden and the operational site? Would you think this would mean your tranquility was enhanced whilst sitting in your garden?

With respect Mr. Griffiths, the small army of campaigners against this proposal, including hundreds of local people, local councillors, MP's, AM's, consultants and GP's, not to mention the management and Brooklands Relatives Support Group, will not hold their peace. They will carry on speaking for those 40 vulnerable people who live in Brooklands as they are unable to do so themselves.

Ann Thomas,

Cresselly.