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

Car park decision is wrong

WITH dismay we learn that the Sadlers Mead multi-storey car park has been approved when hopefully a degree of common sense would have been used to reject this development for reasons I will set out below:

(A) Presently this area is used by buses in order to bring the physically disabled to the Olympiad.

(B) The road now being used is already a very steep one which will need reinforcing/widening/made safer with pavements, steps and handrails for pedestrians.These changes and additions will increase both the height of a ‘new’ road and have a distinctly adverse effect on the visual aspects of this riverside town centre park.

(C)This development when completed will impact on the present car park now being used by vehicles which bring children/people using Olympiad facilities.

(D) Had your committee visited this site and bothered to take into account local opinions before making a decision it would have encountered those daily traffic delays and problems of concern where Station Hill is the one and only road into a massive cul de sac. Already in this cul de sac there are several car parks, railway station, bus terminal, Wiltshire and Poplar Colleges, Olympiad, BT Exchange, shops, school,Wiltshire & Swindon Records Centre, a huge number of houses/flats/bungalows and access point for the River Route cyclepath.

Were these not sufficient for you and your committee to make a sensible decision, especially as the one made contravenes multiple Wiltshire Council policies and it means a construction which will not be aesthetically pleasing and environmentally a disaster for a riverside town centre park?

BRYANT VINCENT, Eastern Avenue, Chippenham

Rethink knife ban

HAVING had a letter published by you concerning knife crime, I was interested to read in last week’s Gazette & Herald ACC Williams’ letter ‘Be vigilant on knives’.

Whilst there is no escaping the tragedies wrought, especially amongst younger people, by knife crimes, I have concerns about the innocent knife carrier. As someone who for years has carried a penknife in my pocket, why shouldn’t I continue to do so? Or could I find myself punished by an ill thought out ban?

Only last weekend talking to a friend about knife crime and ‘the ban’ she said that she’d put on an old coat to take her dogs for a walk and whilst out put her hand in the coat pocket to find a penknife that had been used previously in the garden.

I’m sure many of us have done similar things, but are we committing a crime?

Is carrying that penknife any worse than a small screwdriver, chisel, hammer or even, as seen on BBC Points West last week, a billiard cue?

There isn’t any ban on these non-knife items, but they can become equally offensive weapons. Even our hands can be killers!

I have no problem with the ACC’s welcome advice to parents and the community at large.

Sadly, it is the young who need to be targeted and I am all in favour of ‘stop and search’. What worries me is that an innocent knife carrier, who might be stopped by the police for another reason, then finds himself/herself arrested for carrying a knife on their person.

Perhaps we should have a ‘licence to carry a knife’ system set up, but that would just be ignored by criminal knife carriers or they would turn to other weapons? A ‘willy nilly’ knife ban is not a sensible option and certainly punishes the innocent majority because of the behaviour of the few.

The use of a knife to kill or maim has existed ever since its invention. However, different cultures have used them in both violent and non-violent ways.

Unfortunately, through immigration, the UK has managed to import cultures that favour violence with knives rather than our traditional non-violent attitude to them.

This is self-evident when looking at the communities, especially in London, where knife crime is at its highest level.

Frustratingly, an element of ‘copy cat’ has caused knife carrying for alleged protection to filter out of London to youth communities in the provinces.

No doubt over time re-education will overcome the violent cultures, but think this will take many years before there is a downturn in offensive weapon crime.

I wish ACC Williams and his police force every success in their fight against offensive weapon crime, but urge him to consider the absurdity of a ‘knife ban’ in respect of innocent knife carriers.

ROBIN COWELL, Hilmarton

An April Fool?

IN offering Mrs May a conditional extension of time to April 12 for the implementation of Article 50 the European Union Council of Ministers at least got half of the date right. Given Mrs May’s leadership and negotiation competences, a more appropriate date would have been April 1.

COLIN MCNAMEE

Neville Park

Baltonsborough

Somerset

Keep village on map

IT has been brought to my attention that Wiltshire Council’s submission to the Boundary Commission proposes to change the name of our electoral ward to that of ‘Box’ instead of ‘Box & Colerne’.

Short of saving a miniscule amount of printing ink by the removal of seven letters, there is no benefit in this renaming and I wish to protest, in the strongest possible terms, against this pointless proposal to remove Colerne from the electoral map.

The Boundary Commission criteria for the review of new divisions states that changes should reflect community interests and identities.

It is a matter of fact that the proposed boundaries clearly show that Colerne occupies a much larger geographical area than the village of Box.

How, therefore, can the removal of ‘Colerne’ from the ‘Box & Colerne’ ward name still maintain conformity with this statutory requirement?

I also note, on the proposal map covering this area, that Box has erroneously been placed on the north side of the Bybrook – this being the natural boundary between the two villages but Colerne is not, and has never been, a part of Box parish.

The underused military airfield in Colerne will, almost certainly, be redeveloped as housing within the foreseeable future and Colerne will then outstrip Box in population thus rendering as premature Wiltshire Council’s removal of the identity of Colerne ward.

Our ward name should be retained as ‘Box & Colerne’ or, more logically, in order to reflect the visual logic of this ward ‘Colerne & Box’.

I urge all Colerne readers to contact the Boundary Commission, by April 13, to object to Wiltshire Council’s attempt to remove Colerne from the electoral map.

CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS, Roundbarrow Close, Colerne

Sharpen your riding

NOW the weather is warming up I have noticed there are more and more motorcycles out and about on our roads, which is great to see. We had that warm spell in February which meant an earlier start for some, but how often have you ridden since then? How many riders put their bikes away during the winter months? How many didn’t ride through inclement weather?

If you didn’t ride through winter, and many motorcyclists choose not to, you may notice that you could be a little rusty; reactions are a little slow and hazard perception is, well, not as perceptive!

As with all things, returning riders are simply out of practice and it may take a few rides to get back to that level of competence and perception you had last year.

Indeed, your bike may also not be as perfect as it was either. Have you checked the tyres, oil and water? Are there any leaks from the suspension?

Does the steering work as well as it did the last time you used it? It’s probably quite clean though with no hint of winter muck.

Have you ever thought about a one-day riding refresher? Just to get you back to your old ways – and maybe even better?

As an advanced rider and tutor, I would strongly suggest a day’s refresher course. A day out in the Wiltshire countryside, hooning around getting back to pristine riding level quickly.

It may save your life!

PETER GENET, Cricklade

Schools are special

I CAN’T help feeling sad about how Wiltshire Council could even consider closing three of our local special schools. In the beginning, when the council’s intentions were first leaked, all three special schools were obviously really worried about the future of our schools and all three vowed to fight to keep their schools open: Larkrise (Trowbridge), St Nicholas (Chippenham) and Rowdeford (near Devizes).

There has been a lot of publicity around Larkrise and St Nicholas schools, as both have continued to be very vocal and public in our fight. I feel the need to reach out to the parents/carers of Rowdeford School.

Rowdeford is a specialist secondary school for pupils with moderate learning disabilities. It is an absolutely beautiful school in a beautiful rural setting with a good Ofsted rating. Small, very personal, and obviously well loved.

I visited Rowdeford recently and whilst I was there I had such a lovely feeling about it. I could actually imagine my son Lewis there when he is secondary school age, there was something really magical about it.

But as beautiful as the setting is, it would not suit all children.

The community links formed with Devizes seem to work well for the current children attending the school, older children, able-bodied children who can quickly hop on and off a bus, but they would not work as well for all children.

Why take away parents/carers’ choice of schools? And why take away children with SEN from the Trowbridge and Chippenham communities? How does this help local mainstream children understand and learn about inclusion?

Has anyone considered how the current children attending Rowdeford would cope with the upheaval and disruption of extreme building works going on whilst children are at school over the next few years? This project is huge.

And what about transition? Close three schools in July 2023 and expect the children to slot straight into a brand spanking new school three times the size of what they are used to with three times the pupils and three times the staff in September 2023?

We are not and never have been against Rowdeford School. Rowdeford should stay as it is.

Never have any of our arguments about community links, or travel or the setting been disrespectful.

We want to work with the parents/carers of children at Rowdeford, to protect all of our schools and our children’s welfare, and that of future children requiring SEN provision.

Our children and these three local schools are all ‘special’ in more ways than one.

TERESA LILLEY, Larkrise parent

March was peaceful

ON Saturday I marched with somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million people, including many Wiltshire residents, through the streets of London, with people asking the Government to put the Brexit shambles to bed, to put the decision back to the people.

It was a quintessentially British day, of good manners, good humour, and determination to get the Government to do the right thing. In all that time there was no violence, no damage was done.

Meanwhile some of those that oppose us sent death threats to elected Members of Parliament, and even to the grandmother who launched the petition to demand the government revoke Article 50.

A petition which has now had at the time of writing over 5.2 million signatories, the largest number of people to sign any petition on our Government’s website, or quite possibly any petition ever.

Of these two groups one is patriotic, the latter something else that I do not recognise as being principled, decent or indeed British. As the philosopher Edmund Burke once said: “For tyranny to triumph, it only takes good people to do nothing”.

This weekend it was good to take part and to see so many of my fellow countrymen and women stand up and be counted too.

DR BRIAN MATHEW, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for North Wiltshire, Councillor for Box and Colerne

Care home praise

ON the edge of Kington Langley, just across the dual carriageway, there is a lively and friendly care home called The Fairways.

It lies alongside the Chippenham golf club and is part of a large Methodist charity. It has a large bistro, garden and a small shop, and is administered by efficient informal staff with very professionals, kindly carers.

They have a tireless, imaginative organiser of events and the range exercises, sing-alongs, knitting and nattering to concerts and dancing displays in the bistro, Sunday evening church services, to wheelchair visits to Westonbirt and wheelchairs sliding on ice at Whitehall, culminating at the end of the year in a wonderful Christmas craft fayre together with Santa’s grotto enjoyed by both the young and the old.

How do I know all this? I have been staying there.

PAT CONNELL, Chippenham

Lessons are better

AM I the only to notice that these school strikes by pupils are always on a Friday? The more cynical amongst us might think that the young pupils had been encouraged and that a three-day weekend would further the cause.

So they set off across the country in their droves to protest about climate change, co-ordinating their efforts on their mobile phones, dropped off and collected on a daily basis by concerned parents using their vehicles.

Later this year they will jet off to some foreign resort basking in the knowledge that they have ‘done their bit for climate change’.

Here’s a thought, stay at school and study, get qualifications and then use that education to repair, lessen impact, educate others how to do their bit, perhaps even the teachers could even help.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Avoid hard Brexit

THERE have been many excellent letters in your columns in recent months explaining the very many reasons why the best future for our country and our children lies in our remaining in the EU with our closest neighbours.

Clearly the best way forward now is for the actual facts of Brexit to be put to the people to make an informed decision.

However, I have a real concern that in 2016, when no one knew what Brexit meant, the leave campaign convinced so many people with their false promises of a simple swift exit and a wonderful, fantasy future for all.

If a new vote was agreed, my fear is that the hard-line Brexiteers won’t dare repeat these tactics. Instead they will talk about betrayal and democracy in an emotional way whilst stoking the fear of civil unrest.

Democracy was betrayed when the tactics used in 2016 got us into this mess.

I doubt that we will be given the chance to reconsider this most crucial issue.

Hopefully, however, we can stay as close as possible to our neighbours and not expose our children to the very real risks of a hard Brexit.

GARY HUNT, Chippenham

Clean up after dogs

I believe the residents of Chippenham are extremely lucky to have been given the amazing open space and dog walking facility in Westmead, adjacent to Avenue la Flèche. I particularly like the new wooden sculpture of an owl by Ollie Adams, recently unveiled by Lady Lansdowne, which was partially financially supported by the Chippenham Borough Lands Charity.

It is therefore particularly disgusting that such a beautiful area is being spoilt by irresponsible dog owners who fail to pick up after their dogs. It is impossible to walk more than a few yards without having to avoid stepping in dog excrement. Also for responsible dog owners like my wife and myself, you cannot even step into the grass adjacent to the path, to pick up after our dog, without extra vigilance to avoid hidden dog poo in the grass. By summer, the area is likely to smell particularly pungent which will render it potentially unpopular and unused.

So I appeal to all dog owners, please use this wonderful space and be responsible by cleaning up after your pooches, to avoid spoiling this treasure for other users.

DR PAUL COPSON, Cruse Close, Chippenham

Saddened by attacks

DEVIZES Quakers are shocked and saddened to learn of the attacks on mosques in parts of our country and elsewhere, following the atrocious attack in New Zealand.

Muslims are, in the vast majority, a peace-loving people. It is only a tiny minority who have corrupted its teaching to justify their violence and intolerance.

The current surge in the world in far right extremism is deeply worrying to Quakers.

Violence does not cure violence – that is a fundamental Christian teaching.

We abhor hatred and violence aimed at any religious group and pray for calm and tolerance in our society. Freedom of religion is a human right which we completely accept.

People of faith must stand together against intolerance. By getting to know each other as people we can make our community stronger.

JACKY THOMAS & ROBIN BROOKES On behalf of Devizes Quakers

Red Nose success

MARK Wolfenden and colleagues at the Holistic Labyrinth Yoga Studio in Pewsey would like to thank everyone who took part in their fundraising event on Red Nose Day.

The studio therapists provided taster sessions of their various classes and therapies, including Hathaway and Vinyasa yoga, tarot and astrology readings.

There was a raffle for a fabulous cake donated by the Honey Street café, a meal for two donated by the Green Man pub in Market Lavington, and a one-hour massage at the yoga studio donated by Mark.

Local ladies baked delicious home-made cakes for the refreshment stall, Marshals Bakery donated one of their famous lardy cakes, and Deans Garden Machinery donated cash to support their next door neighbour.

The Vale Community Campus provided a venue for the remaining cakes to be sold the following morning in their foyer.

Despite inclement weather, this was a great day supported in typical Pewsey fashion by our community and local businesses. A total of £242.60 was raised. Many thanks to all involved.

MARK WOLFENDEN, Holistic Labyrinth Yoga Studio, Pewsey

Staff were told first

I REFER to your article of last week which had the headline ‘Staff not told of deal collapse’.

This is exactly the opposite of the truth as staff at Braeside were actually the first to be told and were given all of the details at that time.

Just before Christmas I heard a rumour that Wiltshire College were considering their bid position so I immediately rang the college.

They confirmed they were still going through the process and I arranged to meet with the college management team at Lackham on January 15.

At this meeting I was told that they would be withdrawing their bid because it did not meet their strategic direction. I expressed my disappointment at this decision.

I immediately organised meetings face to face with the three other bidders to confirm their ongoing interest and wish to be considered further.

I met the other bidders in January and February, as soon as diaries would allow, and confirmed their continuing interest, or not as in one case, as well as confirming other details to allow Wiltshire Council to choose a new preferred bidder.

The staff from Braeside were briefed on all of the details on Tuesday, February 26 – a long time before any public or press information was released.

This enabled Wiltshire Council to give the staff the positive news that we were now discussing the way forward with two bidders, and that the outdoor education provision would remain at Braeside.

Finally, I have to disagree with Dave Borrie, who is chairman of the Management Board at Braeside which meets four times a year.

Wiltshire has been very open with the staff, and we guaranteed the financial support to Braeside to December 2019 so that all schools would be confident in booking.

In addition we have sent mailshots to all schools to ensure that they understood this and that it was safe to book outdoor education. Bookings are very strong at both sites.

Perhaps the headline should have said: ‘Staff told first about outdoor education remaining at Braeside’.

PHILIP WHITEHEAD, Cabinet Member for Finance, Procurement, Transformation and Operational Assets, Wiltshire Council