SO Matthew Singh is threatening to walk away and leave the Mechanics' Institute building to the elements.

Why are we not all down on our knees begging him to stay? Could it be that we're not all naive enough to believe that he came from London on a mercy crusade to save our heritage out of the goodness of his heart.

I find it hard to believe that after decades the Mechanics' Institute building has not already been saved and preserved by Swindon Council. The Railway Village has been effectively preserved and the Mechanics' Institute is at the very centre of it. Could it be that there is profit to be made on the removal or mutation of the building?

The building is of obvious heritage value, not just to Swindon but nationally, and should therefore be restored without a 10 storey greenhouse regardless of the cost.

The Mechanics is still merely a building or an object to make profit from.

At the heart of the industrial revolution, when human life was short and often disregarded by the process of mass production, the Great Western Railway opted to educate its workforce providing a library and lecture theatre.

It also provided other facilities to make life a bit more bearable, including health care via the medical fund, which came into practice an impressive 100 years before the National Health Service.

The Mechanics represents the very essence of all that is lacking in Swindon and the country today. The very nature of people working together for the mutual welfare of all in the local community, instead of profit.

Allegedly Swindon is trying to gain city status. I don't know where this intention has arisen from.

As a born and bred Swindonian, neither myself or my family could be less interested.

Most people don't relish the thought of travelling to a noisy, busy city, but when they do they like to visit the heritage of those areas.

Swindon has allowed its most significant building to decline into a decrepid state with feeble excuses.

The planning committee will have us surrender on the grounds that it costs an unobtainable amount of money to restore the most valuable building in Swindon.

It says this while it has money to waste on installing humps in the road every 100 yards; while I have to pay a residents' parking fee to park outside my own home; while there is money to waste converting road junctions to mini roundabouts, then installing traffic lights, then converting it back to a mini roundabout.

I can't believe there are no funds available to get a bona fide restoration project underway for the single most important building of the town.

JASON REEVES

Dean Street