Letters: November 7, 2016

Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Village road nightmare

HOW rich is it from Kay Lacey, who lives on the outskirts of Wanborough, near to Covingham, and who has had a long established war with the Redlands Airfield, to accuse Wanborough residents of being blatant bigots for wanting traffic from new housing to be encouraged to take the Covingham route into Swindon rather than the Wanborough route.

She states that that the majority of Wanborough residents do not want any more traffic to access their minor village roads.

Fancy that. The Redlands development is part of the New Eastern Development of Swindon; not part of the proposed Neighbourhood Plan of Wanborough.

In other words, this is a development that Wanborough Parish Council had believed would be a maximum of 50 houses, not 350 houses, a school, leisure facilities etc., without any highway infrastructure.

Wanborough Parish Council and residents are only too well aware that the Redland development is just the tip of the iceberg.

Yes, this is the icing on top of the mountain of 8,000 houses planned between Covingham and their village.

I have lived in this village for 38 years (far longer than Kay Lacey) and have seen it happily welcome massive development over that time. The village has changed enormously.

The capacity of the school has had to increase – a new school was built and is now full, but the roads haven’t changed, the doctor’s surgery hasn’t changed and the village facilities remain the same.

The parish council has had to embrace these developments and take on board all the extra concerns – residential, social, ecological and economic. No mean feat.

But enough is enough.

I’d like Kay Lacey to know that the majority of new traffic from the proposed Redland Airfield project (which she will be delighted to see disappear and thus has an interest in the development) will not venture her way or even through Wanborough High Street but divert down two very narrow country lanes known as Burycroft and The Marsh.

From here, traffic finds easy access to the M4 missing any A419 tailbacks or into Swindon Centre or Old Town and, of course, the Great Western Hospital.

This is commonly known as “rat running.” Kay Lacey doesn’t know about “rat running.” She lives on a village road but not a small village lane. She doesn’t see how HGVs and umpteen cars cut up verges, drive at speeds exceeding the 30mph limit and threaten pedestrians and horses that have no alternative but to walk in the road.

She doesn’t see the construction traffic that comes down these tiny country lanes because the persistent and zealous Covingham Councillor Dale Heenan somehow managed to impose a 7.5 ton limit on the alternative access to Wanborough across the Merlin Bridge Road.

So, how will all the construction traffic for the Redlands Airfield development project and the 8000 houses of the NEV access their development site, I wonder?

Despite the best intentions of Wanborough Parish Council, they will no doubt travel from the M4 or the A419 down the little country lanes of The Marsh and Burycroft.

Unless Swindon Borough Council note the problem now and really think about the issues, then make these two small lanes access only.

SALLY INSKIP

Farncombe

The Marsh, Wanborough

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Police attitude problem

FURTHER to phone use when driving, Suzette Davenport, the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, the national head of roads policing, states the police “are committed to policing these offences (driving and using a phone) but we cannot simply enforce away people’s behaviour.”

How very mealy mouthed and so very typical of the modern chief officers’ attitude, where if the way to achieve an objective is difficult, the best option is to ‘park it’ and hope it goes away.

Society rightly condemns drivers using mobile phones while driving – it’s against the law – and yet the best a senior officer can offer is a platitudinous statement that “it’s an attitude problem which must be addressed.”

Frankly, the attitude problem which needs to be addressed is that of Suzette Davenport and her ilk who could at least try to enforce the law which may or may not have the desired effect on errant drivers.

But until the police take a firm grip on roads policing we will never know.

DES MORGAN

Caraway Drive, Swindon

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Broken Brexit promise

ON JUNE 23 the British electorate voted to leave the European Union.

In my opinion it is an organisation of failed politicians and chancers dictating to my sovereign nation on everything from border controls, or rather lack of any, to what light bulbs we can use.

Deceptive Dave, in his arrogance, declared that if the result was to leave he would immediately invoke Article 50.

Then he did a runner, as they say in the Working Men’s clubs.

We are all in it together? The nearest this Eton toff ever got to a hard day’s work was walking past a building site.

Theresa May took his place and delayed declaring the aforementioned Article 50.

An ex-model, married to a millionaire financier nicknamed Mr Hedge Fund, called Gina Miller (me neither) led a campaign to challenge the will of the British people.

Three High Court judges upheld her appeal, no surprises there then.

My point is, the ballot paper I put my X on stated the following: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union, or should the United Kingdom leave the European Union?

No ifs or buts, no delaying tactics or the best of four. On that basis why have we not left yet?

All the pompous legal gerrymandering won’t change the voters’ minds.

The good ship Britannia does not want a mutiny on its decks in the heavy seas that may lie ahead. Experts have declared that if the referendum had been a General Election under the present constituency boundaries the result would have been: the Leave Party 423, the Remain Party 227. My Scottish education makes that a massive majority of 197 seats.

Now the fear factor has so far been proved nonsense, if any of the treacherous Machiavellian Members try to over turn the democratic will of the majority, call a General Election and have a clearance at the Palace of Westminster. It is a long time overdue.

BILL WILLIAMS

Merlin Way, Covingham, Swindon

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Justice for ratepayers

AS OUR forefathers forgot to create a second tier government for Swindon Town, only the councillors that represent the old Swindon Borough Council wards prior to 1974 should be allowed to vote on the future of of what we know as Swindon town.

They can make a parish council for West Swindon as they only began to build that in 1974.

The majority of Nythe, Covingham, Eldene, and Liden were almost completed by 1975.

But as they have mucked about with ward names since 1974 only the following members should be allowed to vote, all the others should abstain.

The ones allowed to vote would be: Central 3, Eastcott 3, Gorse Hill & Pinehurst 3, Old Town 3, Penhill 2, Rodboune & Cheney 3, Walcot & Parks 3.

In all 20 councillors should be allowed to vote. Dale Heenan did enough shouting and they bowed to his whims to be able to form Nythe Parish Council.

So Mr Mayor, as chairman of this unitary authority please use your powers in an unbiased way to see that justice to the Swindon town ratepayers is carried out in the correct manner.

Don’t forget that the robes you sit in and the office belong to Swindon, not the unitary authority.

The old Highworth Town Council offices where let to house Thames Water so that Hut 5 on the civic centre campus was vacated.

Also, the offices of the main drainage and sewerage were emptied and transferred up the hill to the old HRDC offices,

DOUGLAS STEWART

Former councillor for Shaw and Nine Elms

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Fight, don’t moan

WHAT is democracy and the difference between that and a referendum?

Is it courts who know best and what we want, or the electorate?

It is a bit like parish council consultation. Say you’ll listen, but then give people what they don’t want. Likewise with libraries. Tell folks prices are going up and Brits tend to moan and accept it, not fight it.

LES BRIAN

Celsus Grove, Swindon

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Cause of break-ups

HAVE you ever asked yourself why thousands of relationships between men and women are coming to an end?

It is no secret that I love women. They are beautiful creatures. I love some women because they have a beautiful personality, so I’ve always wanted to understand them as much as possible.

I embarked on a journey to understand why a relationship collapses and find a solution for it – so we can avoid the mistakes of those before us and make our relationships work better.

In our time, the community does not exist. People are too shy to interact with others in public places unless they are having a few drinks and attending events and meetings.

The women I spoke to told me that their former men were responsible for the break-up. There’s one worry in that claim. We know that one person can make the relationship work and it takes two people to end it.

It was clear to me that the main cause of the break up was communication.

Men and women are no longer communicating with each other, they entertain each other.

They do not take the time to get to know each other, they visit the cinema and restaurant.

They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not discuss about the importance of life, they discuss good looks, celebrities and popular ideas.

AXMED BAHJAD

Fleet Street, Swindon