Sir, – Mr Brooks (D&S letters, Aug 8) accuses me of inconsistency.

My comments about Richmond “bucking the trend” were, as he points out, made at the height of the recession – comments made in the face of continuous press “reporting” about the collapse of traditional market towns with empty properties being reported at their highest level ever.

Richmond, thanks to its businesses, did not follow that trend. Sadly the press were not interested in the fact that local independent businesses had shown such commitment to their local communities.

Since the late 1990s, Richmondshire has been preparing for the arrival of the Catterick Garrison Retail Centre. It took over 15yrs to deliver the project but at least local businesses had time to plan. I didn’t oppose this development as I fully accept that there is a need for better service delivery on the Garrison. I opposed the application to increase the proposed cinema from five to seven screens because I felt that this would have a negative impact on the Station Cinema and the planned cinema at Leyburn.

My recent comments were in relation to yet another request to increase the size of one of the units. The proposal was to double the size of the unit allocated to Sports Direct. My concerns this time are based around unfair competition. The doubling of size would lead to a doubling of the threat to small independent sports equipment retailers.

So Mr Brooks there has been no change of tune. I continue to support local and independent businesses as they have continued to support our community.

Cllr STUART PARSONS

Parkinsons Yard, Richmond.