I take issue with Peter Heaton-Jones about his view in Tuesday's Advertiser that the Front Garden is the best place for new houses.

The Northern Development Area Priory Vale has been allocated 10,000 new homes.

Only a fraction have been built so far. The New Swindon Company, responsible for the town centre regeneration estimates 3,000 homes could be located there. Why is there such urgency to bulldoze the surrounding countryside?

Having attended the examination in public for the 2016 Wiltshire and Swindon Structure Plan my eyes have been opened.

Here is a meeting where the future of the county is decided. Apart from the regional and local government, who was there to make the decisions? Developers.

There wasn't a single representative of the community of Swindon. The only sane voices were from Charmian Spickernell from the Campaign To Protect Rural England and Jean Saunders from Swindon Friends Of The Earth.

Swindon has many empty offices and warehouses and new houses. We haven't caught up with our capacity yet and to blow away greenfield sites because the developers have decided they want to make more profit is immoral. They are aided by a failing council propping up its finances by selling off its assets.

We do not need this many new houses and building on the Front Garden will not bring new jobs, new facilities and new transport links to the town.

The time has come to ask the people of Swindon how big they want their town and what they want from it. We live here, not the developers.

Alan Hayward

Sparcells