IN last week's Letters, Christopher Roberts hit upon the crucial point in the issue of the disputed Gap road. According to Mr. Roberts, the application "is not for some major arterial by-pass but a 1.1km minor distributor/link road primarily to relieve the village of traffic." Not so.

A cash-strapped County Council has found a way of avoiding responsibility for developing a strategic road system. The disputed Gap road is part of a road network to be planned, funded and built by arrangement between developers and the district council and designed for their convenience, and not as is proper by county, for the benefit of the whole community. The presentation of this application as a discrete development, to be seen solely as a relief road for Hilperton village, is a clever ruse to avoid these wider implications.

There is a new proposal for a properly planned and phased alternative route on the table at the district council, the first phase of which would offer a bypass and access to major routes to the whole of Hilperton and Staverton.

Let's hope the district councillors and their officers make proper use of the time gained, so that we may see a positive outcome for all of the communities of east Trowbridge.

R HAWKES

Paxcroft Action Lobby

Hilperton