I consider the views expressed by Andrew Nutt (Argus Letters, July 30) to be totally blinkered and unjustifiable.

He claims that a new supermarket in Bargoed is going to revitalise the town (and I hope he’s right), yet a new supermarket in Blackwood will have the opposite outcome. The new supermarket in Bargoed is being developed using public money – £80million of investment . A new supermarket in Blackwood on the Blackwood Gate site would cost us nothing. The whole site has been developed through private investment. It will provide at least 250 jobs, pay money into the council coffers, and according to experts on town regeneration, help to prevent the further demise of Blackwood town. This is not an issue where we should be trying to score political points or set one town off against the other. We are in a double-dip recession. We have thousands of people, particularly school leavers, desperate for employment. 3,000 residents in the Blackwood area have signed a petition for this development to take place and, given the opportunity, there would be thousands more adding their names to the list. It’s an opportunity to have the penny and the bun!

Cllr Roy Saralis, Blackwood