I have to agree with M. Sutherland (letters, February 26) regarding hanging knickers outside the Ormerod centre, thank goodness they were only there for the day!
Who knows what ridicule the town would have been subjected to if the national press had picked up the story.
We owe much to our forebears who have enhanced our lives with their amazing skills and foresight, the railway, the canal, and the Town Hall to name a few, but the Ormerod Centre, which is at best a utilitarian stone building, and the cinema, a poor example art deco front on a crumbling building, are hardly buildings to angst over.
Surely it’s time for Todmorden to embrace the 21st century?
When Asda acquired the Halifax Road site from Sainsburys, they proposed a supermarket with large car park and a restuarant overlooking the canal.
They also proposed to sell the Ormerod Centre/cinema site to McCarthy and Stone to build retirement homes .
The market, which seems to dominate thinking to the exclusion of all common sense, would have benefited from extra free parking in the town and the influx of retirees with money to spend, who like nothing better than local shopping, pubs and restaurants.
Inexplicably, the Planning Inspector refused Asda permission on appeal, to the delight of those who offered no viable alternative and the dismay of many. What a missed opportunity to bring some new money and jobs into the town and clean up two eyesores. Try parking at the Health Centre or Lidl on market days.
Middleton market struggled to survive for years but in 2010 Tesco opened a new superstore near the town centre with a large car park .The market was moved to the square between Tesco and Middleton Shopping Centre, and is now thriving better than it has for years.
Which developers are going to spend time and money on proposals for a town which appears to be so rooted in the past?
M. Joyce
Walsden