IN reply to a previous letter, my name is Ben Reid, I was also at the meeting that evening. I was the representative that you mentioned had ‘stormed’ out of the meeting and then came back to allegedly ‘discredit’ Mr Barrie Trower alongside Coun Peter Greenhalgh, which did not happen. I would like to say, I am not a representative of Swindon Talk, Swindon Talk is a social meeting place for residents. I am in fact a contributor to Talk Swindon, again another social meeting place which focuses more on the political issues of Swindon.

I attended the meeting out of pure interest as the political nature of Swindon wi fi scheme has been a hot topic on Talk Swindon, I was in no way shape or form attempting to discredit Mr Trower, I merely asked for a case study to support his claims of economic downturn related to mobile network carriers. Yes I did leave the meeting for a short period of time due to Mr Trower not being able to answer my question, this was due to a moment of frustration. I did at the end of Barrie’s speech apologize to Liz and Barrie for my absence earlier on in the meeting. I did not join in with Coun Greenhalgh’s discrediting barrage, I was surprised myself to see that Coun Greenhalgh was fighting the overall opinion of the public, if you are referring to the conversation I had with Coun Greenhalgh before he regained control of the microphone, I was asking Coun Greenhalgh if the leader of the council Rod Bluh was going to resign over the failings of the wi fi scheme. I did not make a statement during the meeting saying the wi fi scheme will fail, I think you might have me confused with someone else. I do believe it will fail as it is already behind several months and didn’t meet the requirements for the second phase of the loan agreement. I extend an invitation to the writer to Talk Swindon to have a look at the wi fi scheme’s scrutiny from both sides, health concerns and political implications. Thank you Liz and family for a very interesting evening. I cannot and will not speak for Coun Greenhalgh or be in political allegiance with him, ever. Let it be known for the public record that I am not, nor have I ever been a member of the Conservative party.

BEN REID

Winchcombe Close

The Prinnels

Swindon