Sir, – Surely it is not necessary to have an 80-shop designer outlet on 33 acres at Scotch Corner with another complex nearby at Catterick and possibly the Northallerton prison site.

There are many empty shops and retail outlets in the area (see D&S, Feb 6) and with increasing use of the internet the spending power of UK and visitors is finite, and so sales are spread over a greater area. With regard to the 700 jobs it might create, I guess these would come from shops that have closed and also from people outside the area.

With food security high on the political agenda and the UK able to produce only two-thirds of our food requirements, we will need every acre of land to feed our future growing population, not more empty shops on good farm land.

Unfortunately, Richmondshire District Council would support this project because of the business rates it might generate. The Local Government Secretary may also think it a good idea, along with house building projects because it would indirectly filter people away form the crowded South-East and London area that has attracted an alleged one million people during the past five years. To which the Government appears to have an indifferent attitude and little effective control.

LINTON GAUNT

Snape, Bedale.