BRAVO and well said Sheila Taylor, answering Mr Coghlan's letter in the Review.

The success of small Forest businesses not only means we keep the life in our town centres, it means we have a say in the kind of world we leave for our – grandchildren in the future.

The consequences of the kind of commercialism that people like Mr Coghlan admires, are lorries travelling hundreds of miles up and down motorways in order to get exotic foodstuffs to local supermarkets; plastic packaging mounting up on landfill sites that will take lifetimes to decompose; and toxic waste poisoning our Forest and eco systems.

Small local businesses give us the opportunity to buy only what we need, usually in a paper bag that can be recycled. That's good for everyone including the planet. Next time Mr Coghlan gives a boost to the shops and supermarkets of Monmouth, maybe he could give a thought for the world his grandchildren are going to inherit?