HAVING taken the time to attend the planning meeting of West Wiltshire District Council on Friday last (January 28) please allow me to express my sorrow for the residents of Hill Street et al, in Hilperton, that have their lives blighted by the passage of traffic.

Having made that statement I must confess that I came away from the meeting feeling that this was now no longer a question of a road through what has been described as The Green Lung of east Trowbridge but more about the democratic process.

The function of an elected councillor must be, as I understand it, to represent the interests of the people. To hold non-elected officials to account for their actions. Sad to say that on Friday night we did not see that function being performed.

Was the fundamental question asked: Have we taken a step back and looked at the bigger picture? Yes, it was but surprisingly to all the answer was: Well, no, the offices of the council did not and do not consider that in the equation.

Shame on the representatives of the people for not calling the officers to task.

Shame on the representatives of the people for being bound by Group Think it's been like this for years so let us not step out of line and question now!

Please, the representatives of the people, you are there to look at the bigger picture to represent the wishes of the people, do your duty. Once you fail to look critically at planning applications and just go along with what has been decided previously, this remarkable district will become nothing but a concrete jungle.

R COOPER,

Trowbridge,

AS a member of the West Wiltshire District Council planning committee I would like to respond to the letters published in last week's edition of your paper, regarding the Hilperton relief road.

I too, along with other members, were concerned about the restriction of local members at the meeting in the Civic Hall. However, the rules are not set by the district council, but the Standards Board for England, which we must all follow at every meeting.

Inference was also made about a closed meeting, wherein the planning committee "discussed" this application. I can assure you that nothing sinister took place at this meeting. It was quite informal and enabled members to question officers on all aspects of this matter prior to the meeting. It is our duty as responsible members to be fully informed on such matters so that we can make informed decisions.

The outcome of the public meeting was very positive and I am sure that the many people that attended this meeting were reassured by the outcome.

J RW KNIGHT,

Town and District Councillor,

Trowbridge.

I ATTENDED the Gap road planning meeting on January 28 and would like to make some comments.

First, this road has been planned for 16-20 years, has had funding towards it for approximately 15 years and is increasingly needed to relieve Hilperton of its traffic.

Why then, after so long, did we spend three-and-a-half hours listening to views both public and by councillors only to come away with a deferment?

Is 16 years not long enough to make a decision? What a shambles the process turned out to be; half the councillors couldn't keep up with the confusing way the meeting progressed and it didn't help with the chairman leaving his microphone on thus taking over the speaker.

As for the rude unnecessary barracking from the Save the Gap people, the first speaker who opposed their views was brave enough to speak against them!

I feel it did their cause no good at all and only showed an arrogance and ignorance which I found disgusting.

Why do we vote council members in, when they are then barred from attending the meeting associated with the one issue that really does affect the local people that voted them into office?

Many villagers were attending a performance of Sleeping Beauty at the village hall; I'm not sure which would be better described as a pantomime.

L DREWETT

Hilperton

I WAS relieved to find that the public meeting revealed a general acceptance that the banning of concerned councillors was political correctness gone mad, and also that at least there was real debate. Barracking from the floor of a speaker from Hilperton was highly regrettable though those responsible must realise it is counter-productive to their cause.

Church Street/Hill Street badly want a solution, but they surely don't badly want a bad solution one where the price is shifting distress to Horse Road/Wyke Road and Staverton.

Phil Tilley admitted that Staverton is rapidly becoming traffic "plateau-ed". Staverton has also been described as a "pinch-point" in the future traffic model; somewhere that traffic will (magically) avoid. I suggest we apply the same logic to Hilperton. Ban heavy commercial traffic. It will then (quite magically) avoid the village.

P FOWLER,

Trowbridge.