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Thousands wasted

THE Adver story about ancient farming artefacts dumped at a scrapyard makes unbelievable reading.

These sort of items belong in a museum but the council says it could not find one to take them. If that is true then why did the council not sell them to private buyers? Many of us would have loved to have one in our garden and paid good money for the privilege.

The green seat would set you back £50 if you wanted to buy it and those large wheels sell for over £500 each, so looking at the pictures in the Advertiser what we have thrown away they could have raised thousands for our much-needed coffers.

Someone at the council has to resign over this and if they do not then they must be sacked.

It is up to our councillors to tell us what they are going to do about it. They knock on our door quickly enough to tell us how they will look after the town when they want our votes. Let’s see them speak out now.

Roy Cartwright, Pinnegar Way, Covingham

Flowers not weeds

It’s been a long time since I was amused by the letters page of the Advertiser so thank you to L Day for the chuckle on Thursday last week.

The “weeds” around the Greenbridge Roundabout are wildflowers designed to encourage bees, butterflies and other bugs on to what is otherwise unused space.

The wildflowers were mentioned throughout the roundabout’s re-design, via the council’s newsletters, along with the new trees and lights.

I, for one, am glad to see our roundabouts used to encourage wildlife, especially when we are told that bees etc are in decline.

Kerry Wear, Lovell Close, Covingham

Better use for cash

The dust is starting to settle over the non-arrival of the Heritage Lottery Fund £12m and the £5m not wasted by SBC on a vain, pie-in-the-sky project which was not needed. Both sides at long last are on the same wavelength. It’s not going to get built.

So with that £5m SBC promised to provide, why can’t they just put 15% of that towards the radiotherapy unit, which stands at £2.2m and needs to be at £2.9m for that much needed by the majority project to start. If that was to happen you can have my vote at the next elections and I’m sure a lot of other people will think the same.

John L Crook, Haydon Wick, Swindon

Dementia demands

An investigation has discovered that 50,000 people with dementia were admitted to A&E last year, because inadequate social care is leaving them unprotected from falls and infections. This is a 70 per cent increase in the last five years, which tallies with cuts in funding. There are estimated to be 2,200 people living with dementia in Swindon and this number is expected to rise. The Government must work out how it will deliver high quality social care to everyone with dementia who needs it, and at a fair price.

Chris Atkinson, Alzheimer’s Society manager for BaNES Swindon and Wiltshire