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Our plan was ignored

It is ironic that Saturday’s Adver had an article announcing that Highworth’s Neighbourhood Plan had been adopted whilst two pages later you report the Secretary of State, allowed an appeal giving permission for 103 houses in Wroughton in contravention of Wroughton’s own Neighbourhood Plan.

It is even more ironic that the cost of preparing our Neighbourhood Plan was covered by a grant from a Government which has just ignored that Plan.

Wroughton residents are rightly very angry. Since Neighbourhood Plans were first introduced in the Localism Act 2011, Government have promoted them as a constructive way in which communities can influence planning in their area. Successive Secretaries of State have said that planning decisions should comply with these plans, but actions speak louder than words.

Developing these plans involves a lot of time and effort, mainly by volunteers, and are subject to scrutiny by planning experts, to ensure they meet the legal requirements. They are then put to a referendum to ensure they have the support of the community. Wroughton’s Plan took nearly three years to prepare and was overwhelmingly supported by the electorate in the referendum.

This latest decision must make any community question whether it is worth the effort involved. Wroughton’s experience suggests it isn’t.

In your report you say that ‘The purpose of the plan is to ......stop developers from having carte blanche over the local land’. I hope Highworth’s Plan is more successful than ours.

STEVE HARCOURT, Chair-Wroughton Parish Council, Kerrs Way, Wroughton

Population keeps rising

Britain’s population rose by 536,000 in the most recent year for which government statistics are available.

Much of this rise was due to people living longer and the recent boom in the number of births in Britain. This means that we have to build a city the size of Liverpool every year.

This involves huge capital expenditure by a British government that is currently trying to make deep cuts in its spending. At the present time the government borrows a billion pounds a week and has accumulated debts of nearly two trillion pounds.

STEVE HALDEN, Beaufort Green, Swindon

Bad site for museum

The site of the new state-of-the-art, multi-million pound art museum is going to be on the old Wyvern car park. Really? The town centre is unappealing at the best of times but that part of town is worst of all.

One would hope the museum consults with the magistrates court to ensure they are not open at the same time. On a busy day, the undesirables awaiting their cases are most intimidating. I cannot see a state-of-the-art museum being attractive to anybody at that location. If in doubt how bad the town centre is then just ask the council who have just approved a new retail park in north Swindon. Enough said!

KELLY COLLINS, Lyndhurst Crescent, Swindon