John Graham, of Woodleigh, near Kingsbridge, writes:

Tom Windle's blast in defence of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Letters, January 20, was most refreshing.

I would argue that care of the AONB has a moral dimension.

The creation of the national parks and AONBs in the 1960s was brought about by the campaigning of a great many people – mostly now dead – who thought our best landscapes should be protected for the benefit of future generations – an ambition that seems ever more prescient as the UK is overbuilt. The proposal that one of the AONBs should be in south Devon was embraced by our county council and by the then Kingsbridge RDC. In the public consultations in 1958/59 both pressed for more, rather than less, land to be included.

The south Devon AONB is a national asset which happens mainly to lie in the South Hams district.

This brings many advantages to local businesses and residents, but also some constraints.

It seems shameful that efforts to circumvent those constraints, usually for the short-term benefit of a few people, are now so widely accepted, indeed are almost taken for granted.

South Hams Council has a clear statutory duty to protect the AONB from misplaced development and, as its constituents on the ground, we should hold it to account.

But perhaps we all ought to think carefully before we seek to do anything that might harm the long-term assets of the area.