I WISH to complain strongly about the proposal to build a large care home on land at the foot of Ashcombe Park, Weston. Having seen an artist's impression of the building this week I am appalled that anyone could imagine this to be in the interests of loc

I WISH to complain strongly about the proposal to build a large care home on land at the foot of Ashcombe Park, Weston.Having seen an artist's impression of the building this week I am appalled that anyone could imagine this to be in the interests of local residents or anyone with interests of Weston at heart.Surely the best possible use for this particular acre of land is to return it to green space. With increasingly large numbers of people forced to live in ever smaller dwellings, we need all the open spaces we can get! This site is full of mature trees whose value cannot be over-estimated. One mature horse chestnut or plane tree will provide enough oxygen to keep 10 people alive for a year. It would be a crime to remove even one of these mature trees.Frogs and toads can frequently be seen in this area of the park. After the disastrous treatment of these creatures in Grove Park over the past 15 years, which has resulted in the extinction of the great crested newts that once bred in the ponds there; the council surely cannot imagine that further ecological destruction would go unnoticed. A new pond for native species would be a far better idea.The proposed care home is three or four storeys high, which would completely obliterate the park view enjoyed by residents along Milton Road. This road is notoriously prone to flooding. I have frequently seen it knee-deep in dirty water over the past five years. Covering a further acre of the park with concrete will increase the risk of flooding here, particularly affecting the houses along Milton Road and those roads that lead off it. No one with an ounce of common sense would dream of building on such a vulnerable site, on a slope, where the risk to nearby homes is so high.Parking is already a problem here, with coaches for bowlers, a very busy nearby doctors' surgery, a massive dental complex, and orthodontist, veterinary surgeons and local residents all vying for space on a major route into Weston town centre where motorists usually zig-zag between parked vehicles as it is. I tried to submit this objection via the council website, but was unable to find a simple way through. Perhaps this process could be made a little easier to follow, in order to receive more opinions from council taxpayers. MARIANNE MCALEER - Florence Grove, Weston