I FEEL I must respond to some of Eddie Holden s comments regarding his letter Good Business . First of all, he is quite right when he states a man has put money where his mouth is and bought the pits for the purpose of making money . Unfortunately, thi

I FEEL I must respond to some of Eddie Holden's comments regarding his letter 'Good Business'.

First of all, he is quite right when he states "a man has put money where his mouth is and bought the pits for the purpose of making money". Unfortunately, this is to the detriment of wildlife and at the end of the day this is all a business man is concerned about otherwise he would not be in business.

Does Mr Holden really believe people will be attracted to Roswell by the mooring of 50 boats when he says "people will go down to see them "?

Unfortunately, when the last roll of turf is down and everything looks nice we will have lost habitats that certain species depend on.

Jim Paice stated in last week's Ely Standard that he is "always amazed at the capacity of wildlife to live alongside people and traffic".?Not all wildlife can as they have to live in certain habitats - only the strongest adapt and we have lost many plants and mammals over the years.

We need to look at what we have lost over the years and it is through these 'wildlife people' that we have managed to preserve some habitats and save species from the brink of extinction.

Do not think Ely is unique over this argument about the Roswell pits development. Only last month I was talking to some people in North Devon who had been trying to save a colony of slow-worms from having their habitat destroyed by a housing development. They were told there was a need for affordable housing in the area and this would benefit young people in the area on low wages who could rent the properties. Unfortunately, none were rented out and in the end all the houses were sold as private dwellings at higher prices, the builder and council made money and the slow worms went, there is still a lot of anger there.

At the end of the day, if Mr Tyrell purchased the pits and said "I am leaving it as it is" there would not have been any letters of protest in the Ely Standard, no political ­point-scoring or anyone demanding the mooring of boats there.

Turning Roswell pits into a Marina will benefit a few people. Keeping it as it is will benefit wildlife and for the future enjoyment of more people.

CLIVE BAKER

Norfolk Road

Ely