Congratulations Councillor Tray on your re-election. Whether all residents of Upper Stratton, who you claim to represent, turned out to vote or not, we all have to agree this is good old fashioned British democracy working in the true sense of the word.

However, with staggering irony, you have managed to achieve this by imposing the now infamous, anti-social traffic ban on ordinary, tax paying, law abiding drivers going about their daily business.

What he said was that his “mission” was to “do something about the volume of traffic in Upper Stratton”. What he really meant, of course, was Queensfield and in particular Duchess Way. Some cynics may well ponder the reasoning there.

This is where Mr Collins (Letters, May 3) is absolutely correct when he asks, was it a personal issue? Was it solely to please himself and all his friends and neighbours?

One of them, T G Flinders (Letters, May 2) actually refers to anyone daring to take this perfectly lawful short cut as “intellectually challenged rats”. Does that in itself, singly, sum up the sort of people these are?

Add that comment to the nonsense from Messrs Duncan and Lehmann and you soon get a picture of a little corner of the town, occupied by people who sit and bemoan their poor judgment and lack of foresight by moving there in the first place.

Are you now getting the message Councillor Joe? You need to learn, if you haven’t done already, that everything you do in life has a consequence. The volume of traffic will increase over the coming years and believe me, Queensfield Estate will be no exception.

The number of people wanting this ban removed far outnumber those in favour and I have a feeling Councillor Joe, that this majority will not let this issue rest until it is done.

T Taylor Hathaway Road, Swindon

Thanks to voters

We would like to thank each and every voter who voted in the recent election for the new Liden, Eldene and Park South Ward.

We are delighted to have won and will do as we pledged to do, keeping in touch with you and working to maintain and improve things across the ward. We would also like to thank our fellow candidates for standing for election and we wish them all the best.

We are sorting out times for regular surgeries. If you are involved in community work or have ideas you’d like to share with us for Liden, Eldene and Park South we would love to hear from you. Our surgery and contact details will be on the council website. Thank you once again for your support. Councillors Neil Heavens, Fay Howard & Derique Montaut

Adver’s art aid

For the month of April, my colleague Maria Calcutt and I had an exhibition of our paintings at Inkspot Arts and Crafts in Swindon. Many people came to see our paintings and Maria and I came to the conclusion it was down to the wonderful coverage you gave us in your What’s On column in the Swindon Advertiser.

Roy Leftwich The Street, Swindon

UK in a tumble

I went shopping in Swindon recently for a new washing machine. It was a surprise to me to discover that none of the models on display were made in Britain.

It is my belief that buying British creates jobs, but is very hard these days to find anything that is actually made in Britain.

Surely it is not beyond the abilities of the British worker to make washing machines.

It seems to me that the British governments over the last 40 years have failed to support the British manufacturing industry.

Steve Halden Beaufort Green Swindon

Council responds

Swindon Borough Council has responded to a letter that appeared in Thursday’s Advertiser under the headline “Soldiers deserve a rebate on their tax”.

A council spokesman said: “Swindon Borough Council does not use any powers to prevent members of the armed forces claiming council tax allowances from the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The MOD operate these allowances and they are paid direct to service personnel.

“Therefore, service personnel continue to pay their council tax to their local authorities in the normal way, and this is the same nationwide. The Mod Allowances were increased in 2011.”