Sir, – I have been following with interest the correspondence in your paper regarding the proposed redevelopment of the East Street site in Farnham. Much seems to be made over the effect that the Crest Nicholson/Sainsbury proposals will have on Farnham's "Georgian character". As an outside observer and someone who is fascinated by the Georgian world as depicted and described by Hogarth, Fielding and the more observant of their contemporaries, I struggle to find many similarities between that age and 21st-century Farnham. Possibly what is meant is that the proposed development will spoil Farnham's Georgian appearance. This presupposes that Farnham has a universally Georgian appearance beyond Castle Street, an argument that cannot be seriously sustained even throughout the town's conservation area, let alone more widely. Even allowing for the substitution of the phrase "historic" in place of the word "Georgian", the predicted ill effects of the proposed development seem unduly alarmist, given that the proposed development will be all but invisible from any part of the old town, with the exception of where it projects at the old cinema site on East Street and the current Sainsbury's site on South Street, neither of which can be argued to be real heritage assets, and where the proposed change should be an improvement over the current position. To the outsider, Farnham is actually very fortunate in that its historic environment is well defined and well protected by dedicated council conservation staff, a "local list" and by an up-to-date Conservation Area Appraisal, the latter largely written by the Farnham Society and carried out with wide-ranging consultation with the town's highly active amenity groups. With regard to the appraisal, it is particularly pertinent to note that no part of the development site nor of East Street were judged to merit addition to the conservation area or the local list, as they contributed so little, to the historic town centre or its setting. Certainly the proposed redevelopment scheme will bring change to a currently neglected and underused part of Farnham. The type of development proposed pushes all the current sustainability and urban renaissance buttons in terms of recreation and leisure provision, contemporary design, and maximising development of a pre-used town-centre site. This is claimed to bring life back to town centres, minimise harm to the countryside and encourage lifestyles that are possible without multiple car ownership. Whether one believes that such development genuinely creates sustainable communities or not, planning policy nationally is ensuring that similar change is happening in every town in Britain. Farnham is actually very fortunate in that it has such an underused and discreet town- centre site and an architectural heritage that is so well protected. In Britain's less favoured and less well protected towns and cities, "urban renaissance" is leading to wholesale clearance of irreplaceable heritage on a scale not witnessed since the 1960s. Rob Kinchin-Smith, historic environment consultant, RPS Group plc, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire