My council tax bill tells me that Chippenham Town Council requires an extra 10.5 per cent from tax-payers for the coming year.

Thus, the town council will have pushed up its charge by no less than 17.2 per cent since Wiltshire Council last requested an increase, to a level that makes Chippenham’s tax now almost twice the average for all towns in the county. Why?

We know that the town council is suffering hard times, with the loss of grants and so forth.

But residents are still suffering too and the town council should be practising serious restraint on all fronts. Conservative-run Wiltshire Council sets an example, maintaining services without a tax increase, even getting by without a chief executive.

With taxpayers’ wages and salaries still under pressure, this is no time for the Lib-Dem-run town council to be carrying on as usual, indulging in ever more ‘nice-to-have’ projects.

Thank goodness, for example, that Conservative councillors have taken the initiative to protect residents’ pockets to the tune of c.£40,000 over the cost of the splash pad project. How come this project was not critically analysed and properly costed in the first place?

Then again, perhaps the splash pad project is symptomatic of Chippenham’s problems. Our town council fiddles at the edges whilst the big picture deteriorates.

Having lived in Chippenham and worked in the area for close to 30 years, I am sad to have witnessed a decline from what was a busy town with a lively high street, a true market presence and some significant industry, to what is now a dormitory town with no heart and diminishing appeal.

Unfortunately, the complacency exemplified by Coun Powell’s letter, on February 27, offers little reassurance.

Peter Kemp, Chippenham.