IN recent weeks what almost amounts to a campaign has developed, a campaign to decry Malvern and call it a “dying town”.

The glib and tedious repetition of this description has been associated with the proposal, so roundly opposed by the guardians of the hills, the Conservators, to build a cable car on the Malverns. Evidently bad losers, to say the least, the Malvern For All devotees are apparently threatening now to pursue their absurd scheme nationally – whatever such a threat might mean.

Artists’ impressions are invariably used by all kinds of developers to persuade us of the sensitivity and careful design of their bold plans.

Typically, such impressions are intended to give a favourable and reassuring picture of a finished development, playing down or screening out potential blight of various kinds, including in this case the structures and machinery needed for the cable cars, together with extra car parks.

We have certainly been treated to such artists’ impressions recently as the cable car enthusiasts even seek to claim that their wholly inappropriate scheme will enhance the amenity of the hills, rather than be an eyesore.

The rallying cry of “progress” is often used by those who wish to justify schemes which prove controversial to try to portray any opposition as being merely obstructive and somehow benighted. Very many ill-thought-out and insensitive schemes in the name of the god Progress have already done untold damage to our countryside, as well as to our towns and cities, in recent decades.

Poor house design, in particular, on sprawling estates is just one example of such widespread blight.

Malvern has a great natural asset in the hills, an asset thankfully protected both by law and by the Conservators.

Let’s be positive about our town and its amenities and not indulge in the nagging negativity of saying that the town is “dying”.

If it were truly dying, then would the national coffee shop companies, for instance, be coming here, would we have the flourishing Malvern Theatres and, above all, would we have the many visitors and tourists who come to enjoy the natural landscape with its flora and the fauna of the most priceless asset of all, using local cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops when they do so?

Surely those who truly care about Malvern and its future should be doing all they possibly can to encourage and support tourism without gimmicks, as well as to help young people especially to appreciate unspoiled nature.

Nature is of profound spiritual, emotional and physical importance to human wellbeing.

Love the hills and please stop running Malvern down.

Eric H Jones

Guarlford