I WAS shocked to read in Tuesday's Adver the report of the Swindon Borough Council decision to press ahead with the proposed sell-off of Lower Shaw Farm.

I was particularly sad to read of the council's plans as I had just come from participating in the Swindon Strategic Partnership annual conference at the Oakfield Campus of the University of Bath in Swindon with a wide cross section of organisations representing many sides of Swindon.

In the plenary session from the afternoon's workshops the imperative to preserve the shrinking number of irreplaceable environmental and cultural jewels that Swindon is struggling to hold onto in the face of substantial pressure for continuing development was strongly staged, and warmly applauded by all delegates, including some of the very same councillors who had recently voted to sell off Lower Shaw Farm!

Selling off the farm is like selling off some of the family silver, or rather one of Swindon's gems, once it's gone you can't replace or recover it, ever. It's in the nature of precious assets that they often cannot realise a proper commercial value unless they're sold, indeed rare gems, such as the farm almost always will continue to increase in value, both commercial and cultural, but only so long as they remain unsold and undeveloped.

Surely here is an ideal opportunity for council leader Rod Bluh and SBC to show both mature leadership and inspired vision by building on the real value of this irreplaceable asset that they are responsible for, on behalf of the people of Swindon, and rather than rushing to sell the farm to the highest bidder for the short-term economic gain, take a minute to consider the long term benefits that the farm has already contributed and how it can best continue to do so as Swindon's boundaries continue to expand and the town changes into a city.

A TWINE.

Highworth