IT IS with bemusement that I read about the planned expansion of the Celtic Manor Resort (Argus, June 7), because it is so popular it is turning away bookings. Anyone would think there was a shortage of hotels in Newport.

I have always blamed the closures of the Westgate and Kings Hotel on traffic-calming and pedestrianisation schemes in the city centre. Various letter writers and those Labour councillors who were responsible for the desecration of the city keep insisting that it’s the fault of the economic climate (ie the Westminister coalition).

So how does that explain Sir Terry Matthews and his future investments?

The inescapable truth is, if those same two hotels were still up and running and with reasonable vehicle access, Newport city as a whole could benefit as well as the Celtic Manor. Talk about lost opportunities.

A Greenhalgh, Ross Street, Newport