To me Watford has become a soulless place with no character and with the eventual building of the mini ‘Manhattan’ project we will, as I fear, just become another part of the London spillover.

Watford used to be a lovely market town with lots of variety. It was still a commuter town but people could come home to a variety of shops and other features.

Now with the advent of online shopping the high street has become just a long procession of junk food shops.

There is no culture, no outstanding art work or features and any trace of history has been erased.

There is no place of any size or quality for rock bands (not everyone is into ‘disco’ music).

So we find ourselves commuting into London (pre-covid) every weekend.

Anything alternative the bland council would love to see banned and anything extremely bland is over hyped and promoted.

A popular phrase used by the council is “Imagine Watford”. Yes, well only after the brick dust has settled then we will see how the increased population will cope with the poor amenities brought about by ‘Tory cuts’.

The chronic lack of investment to the northern parts of the UK forcing people to live in the south and bumping up the population in the process.

Adding to the pressure of the already overstretched services such as schools and doctors, not to mention the roads in Watford with its marvellous one-way system where hardly a day goes by when it isn’t gridlocked!

So Mr Angry of Watford I can agree with you in one sense and yet the people you vote for are only interested in making profit for their friends, gleaning the books and passing any unseen debt onto the next Government should they lose the next election.

I also agree with Iain Sharpe “Upwards the only way” (Watford Observer 05/03/2021) as space is at a premium, but I would feel sorry for someone living in a high rise ‘asylum’. It’s may be ok for singles and young couples temporarily, but for family life it is a no go.

These tower blocks need to be maintained properly too, but you get the feeling that “so long as it’s not in my back yard and I don’t have to live with it.” Let the proles live in these lab rat conditions.

Cheap, cheerful and potentially dangerous for people’s mental health and wellbeing, but lots of money for builders solving unscrupulous Government problems such as the housing shortage. Has Grenfell been forgotten already?

G Crowe, By email