Nick Cotter, of Fosse Road, Kingsbridge, writes:

There are at least 11 good reasons for not installing two car park barriers between Bantham village and the beach car park, as per planning ­application 55/2484/15/F.

1. Both the building, and particularly the barrier, are totally out of character for the village of Bantham and the planned location, an open area of ­grassland. They would be a permanent blot on an unspoilt landscape in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Any building in this area should be small-scale and ­timber-clad, not some artless concrete block that can be found in any urban area.

2. It is unfair, and against established custom and ­practice, that local people could be charged for short periods of access in the evenings and ­during winter to a wonderful beach and walk area

3. The location of the barrier will purposefully stop access to the current free parking spaces along the access road that are available at all times when the main parking area is closed.

4. The installation of an ­automatic barrier will eliminate another job in an area of few employment opportunities.

5. Car park barriers, rather than pay and display, cause congestion at peak times. If it is pay on entry, then queues will develop in the narrow village lane to access the car park and the departing vehicles trying to exit will not be able to pass such a queue. Pay on exit will cause congestion between the parking area and the proposed barrier, which is a single-track lane.

6. With new car park arrangements, new charges, drivers checking that they have the right cash will require ­signage: where will this be positioned and will it be ­another blot on the landscape?

7. For those who arrive at the barrier without the right change, or choose not to pay the new charges, there is no facility for turning around – but people will try.

8. If evening and winter charges are introduced, this will discourage local walkers who like ourselves occasionally use the local pub or cafe, with a subsequent downturn in trade for these establishments that can only survive by attracting visitors to the village.

9. Those who don’t wish to pay the Bantham fees are likely to increase parking in Bantham village, adding to congestion, or they will be tempted to go to Bigbury-on-Sea, thus increasing traffic on the routes to Bigbury, including the tidal road.

10. If the owner wants to spend money for a new office, kitchen and meeting room, then it would be better spent on a new toilet facility within the car park.

11. This planning application has motivated more than 100 people to write formal objections, which is an exceptionally high number and shows the strength of feeling against the proposed barriers.

This is a mean-minded proposal that eliminates another job, has the potential to make money 24 hours a day and upsets the majority of local and regular users of the beach, which, as with all the coastline, belongs to the Crown Estate and therefore the nation.