Devizes Town Council should be congratulated for the sensitivity with which it has approached conservation issues in the town recently.

The metal seat around the flowering cherry in front of the St John Ambulance HQ on St John's Street is an inspired solution to the problem of lifting paving around the tree, and one which is of practical value as well as being attractive.

The council has also gone to great lengths to achieve an internal solution to the need for disabled access to the town hall, where an external ramp and steps would have damaged the original design of the building.

And the council's preference for the Tom Doyle Playing Field off Green Lane for the proposed skate board facility will avoid having to accommodate this activity on The Green, and is a major advantage.

Meanwhile, I think I understand Mr Brewer (Gazette November13 ) to agree with me about the development of the Quaker's Walk fields, but I am not quite sure. Residents and their parish council indeed fought long and hard against this proposal, along with the Trust For Devizes and including through two separate hearings in the Kennet Local Plan Inquiry.

The trust thoroughly endorsed the well reasoned objections of the Roundway Park residents, only to see these ignored by the inspector, who seemed unconcerned about the traffic effects on London Road, as Mr Brewer rightly points out.

However, Kennet District Council did indeed have powers to resist the landowners and avoid including Quaker's Walk fields in the housing allocation, on the grounds that development densities are requiring reduced land areas, but the Kennet majority group showed no interest in pursuing this option.

My apologies are due to Mr. Brewer if I failed to make this clear.

J Ody

The Trust For Devizes