SIR - I was amazed to read in last week’s Sidmouth Herald that the �1.5million, promised to Sidmouth by the developers of the Fortfield Hotel site, could be used elsewhere in Devon! Whatever next?

I understood the donation to be a form of compensation to the town because the developers are replacing a well-known hotel with residential apartments (i.e. not holiday flats).

This money provides a golden opportunity to give the doctors the surgery for which they have waited more than ten years and which would benefit everyone in the town.

Surely, the rebuilding of a new, spacious surgery should take priority over anything else, particularly when the erection of more houses means, inevitably, an influx of more residents, all of whom will expect to receive medical attention at some time.

To allow this money to be used other than for the good of Sidmouth would be, in my opinion, beyond belief.

Peggy Watt

All Saints Road, Sidmouth