WHEN I was growing up we lived in Llanfoist. At the time our house was surrounded by fields - as indeed was most of the village which had a very definite identity quite apart from its neighbours at Govilon and Llanellen.

It had two shops, a post office, a successful village school and a strong community feel. Today the post office is a house and the village shop is Waitrose and instead of heading to Stockham’s shop for a fresh pasty and a bag of penny chews at lunch time, the youth of the village head to the once desperately opposed McDonalds for burger and fries.

Over the years I’ve watched the village identity, which everyone was once so proud of, being chipped away as housing development after housing development slowly absorbed Llanfoist into Abergavenny with only the physical barrier of the river separating the two.

Now as houses are built on the outskirts of Govilon I wonder how long it will be before the two villages - once quite keen rivals - will become one enormous suburb of Abergavenny.

It wasn’t too long ago since some family friends who owned a campsite near Abergavenny caused a minor kerfuffle in the locality when they made a bid to extend the period for which it could be open.

“We can’t have that…the noise will be ridiculous…the traffic will increase…it will be a nightmare,” screeched the great and good with one voice.

“It will ruin the view of Abergavenny from the top of the Skirrid during the winter when there are no leaves on the trees to obscure the view of the site,” said one energetic opponent.

It was a similar case when applications were made to relocate the cattle market and use the site for a supermarket.

While many claimed it was a much needed change other bemoaned loudly that it would be a death knell for Abergavenny and that the market town would be ruined by the arrival of ‘yet another’ supermarket.

Despite these protests and many other over the years, the development of Abergavenny has continued and this week Monmouthshire County Council has opened the way for a new development of 500 houses just east of Abergavenny close to the Heads of the Valleys road.

Recent surveys have revealed Abergavenny is consistently named as one of the best places in Wales in which to set up home and it’s flattering that so many people want to put down roots here.

But there is a very real danger that when too many people put down roots you end up not being able to see the wood for the trees and sacrificing the very thing people are searching for.

In the last few years we’ve lost a lot of Abergavenny’s ‘unique character and environment’ - to borrow a phrase from one of the more successful opposition group of the past. Things which even a handful of years ago like the annual Mayor Making were a central focus of the town, are no more.

Maybe it’s finally time to strike a balance between preserving our town in aspic and losing so much that Abergavenny becomes a shadow of what it once was and what makes it such a special place to live.