COUNCILLORS at Marlborough have slammed a county council document for making the town look like a cultural vacuum.

On Monday members of the town council heaped scorn on the Draft Cultural Strategy for Wiltshire.

Coun Nick Fogg said from the list of organisations consulted before the compilation of the report, "not one single cultural organisation has been consulted."

Rather pointedly Coun Fogg said the former arts minister Dr Kim Howells who visited Marlborough to open the recent Jazz festival had earlier been pilloried for referring to the Turner national art prize as "a load of cp."

Coun Fogg said some people might well apply the same comment to the county cultural strategy, not for what it contained but for its omissions.

In the foreword in the draft document county councillor Jane Scott, cabinet portfolio holder for the Department of Children, Education and Leisure, said the cultural strategy was intended "to bring together many of the cultural activities and services that are really thriving in the county."

Coun Scott added: "It looks at the past as well as the future at keeping that special flavour of Wiltshire alive as well as ensuring that we are building vibrant and sustainable communities for generations to come."

However town councillors were quick to point out that the document's list of draft priorities for Marlborough had left out numerous cultural events.

One very notable omission was the town's historic Mop fairs.

Coun Scott said there were many strong links between culture and improving the social, economic and environmental well-being of local people.

"We particularly need to make sure that there are plenty of opportunities for everyone to have access to and participate in cultural service, so that all of us living and working in this beautiful county have the opportunity to get the best out of life."

Coun Michael Gray was all for ignoring the document and said: "We should not encourage this sort of thing because it will only proliferate."

Coun David Parker disagreed and said the town council needed to put the county straight about the activities and events that were part of the Marlborough calendar.

The council agreed to write to Coun Scott pointing out that existing cultural activities in the town include:

Marlborough International Jazz Festival which is the biggest event of its kind in England

The historic Mop fairs

Planned celebrations for the town's 800th anniversary in 2004

St Peter's Church community centre

Marlborough College Summer School

The 17th century Merchant's House that is being restored

Marlborough Brandt Group's links with The Gambia

Councillors agreed to tell Coun Scott that they were "appalled at the inaccuracies and omissions in this document."