It was encouraging to read (“Powys planners in mobile mast refusal”, County Times, August 25) that PCC, following a recommendation from their Planning Officers, has turned down planning permission for two telecommunications masts which developers wanted to impose on the outstanding landscape of the Elenydd.

One of masts was to be sited to the west of the Craig Goch reservoir, on the flank of Esgair Rhiwlan but now there is an opportunity for the Rights of Way arm of the Planning Committee to take on the baton to further protect both Esgair Rhiwlan and the connecting whaleback ridge which runs from near Pont ar Elan towards the border with Ceredigion.

It is along this ridge that the ancient trackway known as the Monk’s Trod progresses, a trackway that is believed to have connected the two Medieval Cistercian Abbeys, Abaty Ystrad Fflur & Abaty Cwm Hir, but the track may well have its origins as far back as the Bronze Age.

Unfortunately, over recent decades the track has become much used by those more excited in carving a muddy wallow along the ridge rather than in enjoying the tranquility of this wonderful ridgeline.

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But how can PCC easily prevent further desecration?

Easy - by converting the absolutely absurd “Byway Open to all Traffic (BOAT)” status of the Trod to that of “Bridleway” – after all it is quite certain that the Cistercian Monks of the C12th did not have the ‘benefit’ of the internal combustion engine but, rather, used horsepower of an equine nature.  

Arranging this transfer from BOAT to Bridleway should be quite straightforward, not only because of the precedent set by medieval transportation but also because the section of the Trod in question passes through the following ecologically protected areas; a SAC (Special Area of Conservation), a SPA (Special Protection Area), an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and, as it nears the border with Ceredigion, a NNR (National Nature Reserve).

Peter Foulkes, Machynlleth.