“As Morriston's historian I would like to respond to Mr Roy Bennett's claim that there are already three food stores in Morriston. There are indeed various shops in Morriston that sell food but we need to gain a major supermarket as this provides shoppers with branded items at the same prices as they are used to and it will also bring in new business to the town.

There are many villages and towns that oppose the arrival of a major supermarket but not our town and the reason lies in our history. When we had a Tesco store in Woodfield Street (1972 - 1984) we had one of the best shopping centres in South Wales. People came from afar to shop in Morriston because we had a major supermarket and wonderful independent shops. We had it all!

Tesco left Woodfield Street in 1984 to move to Llansamlet and it destroyed Morriston's shopping centre because people diverted from Woodfield Street straight to Llansamlet and as a result, the independent traders closed.

We now have a frozen food shop, many convenience stores (where you pay convenience prices) and other well-known shops (Wilkinsons, Subway and more recently Poundstretcher) but we most definately need a major supermarket to give the customer a fair choice.

As for suitable and available premises, there are a few that I know of but obviously we need a major supermarket to know that the people of Morriston are behind it first before locations are found. What have we got to lose? Nothing. We have everything to gain.

Morriston deserves better than to make do with what we have already got. If we can gain a major supermarket to agree in coming to Morriston then we have a bright, prosperous future ahead of us.

Well done to the Chamber of Trade for standing up for Morriston's future.

Andre Scoville - aged 39 (AndreMorriston@gmail.com)

Morriston”