THE members of the Market Lavington community hall committee have at last responded.

Mr Furminger says the people that go to his meetings are unrepresentative. I think it's sour grapes because the people who attended their meeting in March voted against the plans that were proposed. Where were the people who supported the committee's plans? By the way, Mr Furminger, you say you get between ten to 150 people at your meetings. How do you then justify your comment that the halls we currently have only hold "max. 70 people?"

Next, the voting slips. The committee sent out one per household. As most households have more than one adult, a number of adults would be unable to vote. That's hardly fair in a democracy where one adult one vote is the rule. Mr Furminger has said people could get an additional voting slip. This leaves the vote open to

rigging. You wouldn't need to duplicate the slip sent with the leaflet. All you have to do is ask a committee member and you will receive a new one. Go to another committee member and get another and vote again. The way this vote has been dealt with is symptomatic of the way this whole

affair has been conducted. If one voting slip had been sent out for each person on the electoral register this problem could have been avoided.

Mr Furminger asks where is the venue that can hold 200 people with adequate car parking. The venue is Market Lavington School. How many weddings are there at Market Lavington each year? Not many. I should know, I live next door to the church. Do you think that brides would be rushing to use the community hall for their reception? I think they would rather choose to use a local country house. With regard to the other leisure activities, the current facilities are more than sufficient.

Turning to Mr Shawcross. An anonymous writer "portrays the village hall committee as some sort of sinister, fascist organisation."Naive and out of touch would be more appropriate.

The proposed cottages won't be "tucked away" in a corner. They will be next to existing properties, including the church and from the plan sent round, will be totally out of character.

And the village green where "people will want to spend time". If you look on your plan the space allocated to the green is about a quarter of the existing site. With regard to space for the youngsters, where is it?

It will be interesting to see how many vote. Where and when will the results be published?

P WARING

Market Lavington