REPEATEDLY raising concerns over the positioning of a new skate park in Highworth led to one neighbour's complaints being dubbed 'unreasonably persistent'.

David Parkinson lives near the youth shelter site on the Lower Highworth Recreation Ground which is earmarked for the outdoor leisure facility.

He criticised councillors for not offering a public consultation about the proposal and pointed out that the site had previously been deemed unsuitable by the same council in 2004 because it was too close to housing and could become a nuisance to people living nearby.

Mr Parkinson felt he did not receive an acceptable response and claimed that he was being ignored, so he kept writing in.

He told the Adver: "The council has acted in a covert, opaque and biased manner and when I have the temerity to point out its administrative errors and complain, those complaints are just repeatedly ignored and I am the one ludicrously deemed to be unreasonable.

"I believe that Highworth should have a skate park and I accept that, if HTC can legitimately demonstrate that the youth shelter site is the best location for it, then that is where it should go. The problem is that they have not even remotely demonstrated that.

"It's hypocritical that they criticise housing developers for not having proper public consultations about planned housing developments and then agree to this site for the skate park without doing a public consultation."

After warning Mr Parkinson that his concerns would not be reviewed again and that further correspondence would lead to them invoking the unreasonably persistent complaints policy, councillors received two letters and three emails from him relating to the original complaint.

So, they unanimously agreed to not acknowledge or reply to any other letters or emails from Mr Parkinson about the skate park.

Coun Keith Smith put forward the motion and Coun Paul Newton-Smith seconded the proposal to put the six-month ban in place.

Town council clerk Deanne Rose could not disclose how many comments the council had received to consider the complainant 'persistent'.

She added: "I can confirm Highworth Town Council have a certificate of lawfulness, issued by Swindon Borough Council, for application S/LDP/19/0400 on the lower rec site to build a skate park.

"Issues have been raised by residents and responded to accordingly. The skate park group do not have the full fund required to commission the build at present.

"As reported at previous meetings, the skate park will be discussed at a future council meeting - most likely in June 2021.

"All complaints are handled in line with the complaints policy."