WAYLAND VAN HILDYCK-SMITH, of Forde Park, Newton Abbot, writes:

How many more so-called ‘face-lifts’ can Newton Abbot take when each one seems more disastrous than the last?

It started several years ago with the felling of the beautiful catalpa tree together with the removal of the cast iron circular seat that sat at the entrance to Market Walk and was much loved by local residents.

The removal of the old Victorian cast iron finger posts up Courtenay Street were next taken away ‘for refurbishment’, but of course they never came back.

And then came the removal of the cast iron seats throughout the town which were replaced by expensive modern wooden seated/iron ‘backless wonders’, a delight for the vandals but not the residents who preferred to lean back on a seat and NOT the back of some unknown person sitting on the other side! Not even wide enough for anyone of normal to plump dimensions on the rear end!

We then had the fabulously costly repaving project with setts of hand-cut foreign granite giving us a huge expanse of a grim, grey, granite graveyard with the removal of the attractive flowerbeds at the top of Bank Street, near the library.

Hard on its heels came the equally expensive Victoria Garden project, where they removed the shade-giving cherry trees and grassy banks for a stereotyped gravel and grass configuration and seats placed so that one could see the river through a series of plate glass ‘picture windows’ cut into the wall; sadly, this was a mistake as the river being several feet lower, could not be seen from the seats!

The glass panels themselves came at a huge cost from Germany and soon fell to the sledgehammer of some vacuous vandal, whereupon the town clerk stated that ‘The vandals will not win, we shall replace and replace if we have to!’. Brave words, but after the replacement of two, the cost was so astronomical that they were left, still cracked and covered by a sort of perforated mesh guard over them.

Do not forget the costly and impressive ‘town gates’ through which, of course, the public are not allowed to drive, although they can frequently be seen sneaking the odd vehicle through!

The next horror was a gigantic hideous fairground-type plastic façade stuck at the entrance to Market Walk which like most of the rest of the town was supposed to ‘attract shopkeepers’ to the area, which it did, inasmuch as it was usually yet another coffee shop or nail bar, another ‘tat’ shop of the ‘here today and gone tomorrow’ variety which stayed a year and then left.

Golden Lion Square then fell to the ‘enhancers’ with its dreary grey granite setts and a central tree sporting a lovely new and hand-crafted wooden circular seat, demolished in part almost immediately it had been installed. It now contains a set of white painted objects reminiscent of ex-MoD anti-tank bollards and some things looking like stone coffins to sit on. It would be better named ‘The Lethargic Lion odious oblong’ than Golden Lion Square.

Over all these years of ‘face-lifting’ the constant request to remove the dangerous, broken and ancient tiles and paving slabs stretching from Boots Chemist up to M&S, in Courtenay Street, fell on deaf ears, finally dealt with after many pedestrians’ falls, with a recent partial replacement of a tarmac surface, which was quite effective and pleasant to look at when finished.

So, what now? A £1.9 million roof to glaze-in part of Market Walk that is already sheltered to a degree by the buildings overhanging shop fronts.

But think of this: it will no longer be cleansed by the rain of the band of ‘walking pigeons’ deposits. In summer it will be like a furnace and in winter a veritable wind tunnel. The seagulls will bomb it unmercifully and it certainly won’t encourage more trade. The council will have to employ a street washer and a glass washer, that is if health and safety don’t stick their oar in re the cleaning of glass roofs for which I am sure they will find some ‘law’!

The great irony of all this is, of course, the fact that after all these previous face-lifts have failed, the council now admits it to be a ‘tired and run-down Market Walk shopping centre’.

Well, they own it! They call for a needy shot in the arm, maybe a shot in the head would be more effective!