I AM puzzled by Cllr Scott's reference to "our carefully considered and democratically arrived at decision" (letters March 14) when did that happen?

Surely, any "carefully considered" decision must be well informed, based on sound, reliable evidence? All county councillors had to go on was the severely flawed Options Review! Even though the review was heavily criticised in the Scrutiny Report, councillors still refused to reconsider their decision, despite the vital evaluation report being described as "not transparent", "not presented in an easily understandable format" and could have "led external agencies to perceive bias".

What of the county council's survey of record office users, which showed massive support for the Trowbridge location? When the votes of Trowbridge and Chippenham residents are removed from the equation, Trowbridge has SIX times the number of votes that Chippenham received! This vital fact was omitted from the Review!

Why should Wiltshire council taxpayers shoulder the bulk of the cost of a facility, primarily for the benefit of Swindon, when for many of them it will be inaccessible?

Why has the county council agreed to a site that is so unfavourable to so many of its taxpayers, and which most users don't want?

If Cllr Scott is so concerned that the Chippenham site will not get Heritage Lottery funding, surely she should be persuading her Swindon counterpart to go for a site which will get the necessary funding, namely Trowbridge!

GLYN BRIDGES,

Alma Street,

Trowbridge.