I WRITE in reply to the article about Sainsbury’s plan for Leominster (Hereford Times, May 9) and concerns over level crossing traffic.

As a resident of Leominster since 1964 and currently residing on a side road off Mill Street where the new Sainsbury’s development would be constructed, I am lost for words that Barbara Morgan of Network Rail could contemplate off loading the cost of any improvements to the level crossing onto Sainbury’s.

It is common knowledge that Network Rail has a longstanding and persistent problem with subsidence at the level crossing and it has for at least 10 years frequently closed the crossing at weekends to do patchwork repairs.

Furthermore, I have been driving since 1977, using the said crossing, and at no time have I seen anyone “zig zag” the barrier.

If Network Rail suspect that, then it had better install double barriers now to avoid another Moreton-on- Lugg disaster. After all, that accident was down to saving a few thousand pounds on safety devices that they already have in stock and use elsewhere.

What really needs to happen is for the east-west bypass that has been on the back burner of Herefordshire Council’s plans for more than 20 years to be put in place. Well, at least connect up Southern Avenue with the road to nowhere currently used as the access to Morrisons.

This plan was proposed back in the 1990s and has been shelved and put off for decades.

If that plan had been executed there would not have been the gridlock experienced when the main traffic lights failed in the town by Bengry’s garage.

Leominster as a market town needs to have more competition as currently Co-op and Aldi offer good service but are not truly in competition with Morrisons. This current situation does not put the shopper in the best position as far as fair trade is concerned.

If Leominster has a Sainsbury’s and a Morrisons petrol station to choose from there would be a much more competitive fuel price and we would not be up to 5p a litre worse off in comparison with the likes of Gloucester and Worcester.

I frequently travel to Gloucester and Birmingham hospitals and often choose to fill up with fuel there rather than Leominster purely because I can save £4 per tank full.

If the Friends of Leominster action group are who they pertain to be, then I would have thought it more prudent to welcome Sainsbury’s – which could bring 200 new jobs to the town – and accept Dales wishes to expand and double its workforce.

To me the current griping smacks of sour grapes from a rail company which has just been rapped for failing safety issues and “nimbyism” from people who have not got the jobs and livelihoods of Leominster people at heart.

As a motorist, I wonder how people can afford to travel to Hereford to work as it must be costing 25 per cent of their weekly wage to do so.

Therefore there could be a potential to take up to 300 commuter cars of the roads if this development is allowed to go ahead.

STEVE LLOYD, Leominster.