I GREW up in the Newport area and I must have been one of many who viewed last night’s television news coverage of the destruction of the Chartist Mural in Newport town centre with a sense of complete disbelief.

The story of the Chartist march on Newport is one of the few proud episodes in the city’s history which placed it truly in the national eye and the mural of 1978 was a worthy commemoration of that event. On visits to Newport I could not but pause, to think and to admire it, as I passed by. The city council’s action in bringing in the wrecking ball so swiftly, to forestall any reasoned debate on the issue was the action of a philistine, a cheapskate developer with an eye on a quick buck.

It was clear as the destruction continued that skilled engineers could readily have preserved the mural, which was not cemented to the face of the wall behind, its integrity assured by a backing metal mesh. It did not fall readily to the demolition men. That rather dark and dank passageway was not the best place to display it and surely most people in Newport would have welcomed a plan to properly feature it in the new shopping mall. Shame on you, Newport City Council.

Geoff Williams Crickhowell