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Town really is ‘closed’

SINCE moving to Swindon as a schoolboy, I have been a staunch supporter of the town when others have been knocking my adopted home.

However of late I have called into question my faith in the town and a recent visit by friends gave my thoughts a reality check.

Having collected them at the train station we walked out under an empty, and in some places, boarded up, 12-storey office block. Walking through the bus station they asked about the large tract of empty land where the bus depot once was.

Continuing towards the underpass, with more vacant land to our left, we were about to pass under the road when they commented on the eyesore of a heavily boarded up tower block above the department store.

A detour took us to where Whalebridge once stood and my friends were mystified, as were most motorists, about the road layout there which they thought did not work.

In response to their questioning I told them it took 51 weeks to build.

We passed the old Sandford Street school, with empty, new office blocks opposite and walked across Regent Street – “nearly nine months” was my response to their question about the time to lay new pavements there.

Arriving at the Brunel statue, they were pleased about the concept but horrified about the timescale to complete the job.

On our journey towards the town hall we noted numerous, some long-term, empty shops along Commercial Road.

The town’s saving graces were caused by the library, the Regent Circus development on the old college site and the revamp of the Victoria Road building.

Our progression up to Old Town was marred by a seemingly partially renovated office block on The Brow and the sad façade presented by numerous properties going up the hill.

They were interested in places they remembered like Coate Water and leisure centres like the Link and Oasis. They can think back to when these were the jewels in the town’s crown.

The privatisation and charges at them brought the discussion to a halt, such was their disbelief.

When I explained to my visitors that the bus station’s demise is imminent they expressed incredulity that the flattening of Fleming Way, so as to abolish the underpass, to create a new bus stopping venue would be created without putting a sign at the boundary saying “Town closed”. This was a line used in TV’s “Lewis” once and I remember defending the town against such cheap quips.

However, now I am not so sure.

I reluctantly doubted the town’s confidence, vision and capacity to regenerate itself in the modern world. We have more than our share of empty office blocks, I feel the town is being left behind as it is too slow to adapt to the changing world. When they asked us who ran the council, I responded “Conservative.

“For over 10 years with their focus on slashing services for the last six.”

At this juncture, the conversation with my friends changed to peace and world hunger.

BOB PIXTON

Liden

Swindon

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I love the puzzles page

I ABSOLUTELY love the daily cryptic crossword puzzle, which I do every morning as soon as the Adver drops through my letter box.

I am wondering if I am the first in the day to complete it, unless there may be someone else out there.

MR GRAHAM WOODWARD

Nelson Street

Swindon

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Time to talk real issues

I THINK we must all agree we live in a lovely part of the country. Wiltshire is a beautiful county, with its wonderful countryside, well-kept villages and thriving towns.

However, we face many challenges over the next few years, with pressure from developers to provide housing for our ever-increasing population, to social issues such as providing special needs education for children.

The pressure on our public services will only get more and more every passing year. The priority of funding our public services and decisions made on development over the next few years will determine our quality of life for years.

Our councillors have many difficult decisions to make and must make them for the right reasons, rather than playing party politics with our future.

Many letters over the last few months seem to be from local politicians making party political point scoring, rather than talking about the real issues that affect all of us.

This is why I think our councillors should be independent.

DAVID POOLE

Rowden Hill

Chippenham

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Pets’ photo competition

LEADING vet charity PDSA is currently inviting young people to enter its Super Pets photo competition and be in with a chance of winning some awesome prizes, including a VIP tour of one of its Pet Hospitals and a professional photoshoot with their pet.

The competition is free to enter and open to anyone aged 16 or under. There are three categories for entries: under 10s, 10-13 and 14-16.

Photos should be emailed to petprotectors@pdsa.org.uk with Pet Photo Competition 2016 in the subject header, along with the child’s full name and date of birth.

Winning entries will be chosen by celebrity vet and PDSA supporter, Steve Leonard.

The closing date for entries is Friday, September 9, 2016.

RACHEL SUTHERLAND

Education Programme Manager

PDSA