In reply to the excellent letter from Des Morgan, I was at the scrutiny meeting and was surprised to see I was the only member of the public there. If people want to see how this town is being run down, they need to attend these meetings and ask questions.

I asked how much the firm that now owns the Oasis paid for it and how much it would cost the council if they took it back, due to missed applications for the work to be done. I was told in both cases the answer was nil, so however much it costs to build the Oasis and the cost of the land also given in the deal, they got it for nothing, and if the council do take it back, I presume now the firm that has reportedly paid out millions for work to be done, won’t be asking for any repayments of that money.

I also asked how much had been paid out by the council since the site was taken over; the reply again was nil, but can someone confirm the council has paid out thousands of pounds for vending machine hire, which they claim they couldn’t break the contract of?

You lease out a house, any fitments you can get the previous owner to pay for. Also how many thousands of pounds has the council paid for hiring the main hall for election nights etc?

We were told that the man who took over the leasehold when the first one went bust, did so at the cost of just £1 and nobody in the council has ever met him, no one in the council has ever talked to him, and I doubt if anybody in the council knows how to contact him.

Mr Perkins called him the ‘Polish man’. Coun Perkins also made a very strong comment on people who are deemed as ‘hard sellers’, and the very good job they do for the firm they work for. He would know this, due the way the hard seller ripped the council off to the extent of £400,000 and called it wifi.

If you want to protect this town then come to the meetings and ask the questions.

T Reynolds Wheeler Avenue Swindon