MR PAYNE (Letters, March 7) and I have been told different things by Marks and Spencer.

Time will tell whether they ever set up shop in Trowbridge. The website I mentioned (Letters, February 28) is for the eco village known as BedZed in South London, on a site the same size as Ushers. It produces no carbon emissions, thanks to solar heating and clever design. It's proof that we don't have to choose between good business and good environmental practice. The district council planning committee should visit BedZed to see what the possibilities are.

If we don't squander this precious space on parking, we could do all manner of interesting things on this site, which could be linked through foot and cycle tracks to the rest of Trowbridge. We live in a small, level town which is ideal for this.

What could we put there? More cheap housing, a caf run by and for young people, a restaurant serving food produced locally, a community orchard, indoor swimming, cinema, bowling, large and small shops and businesses. The roof spaces could be gardens to reduce surface run-off. There could be a public square flexibly designed for a summer caf, skateboarding, farmers market, table top sales, junk swap days, music making, Morris dancing, street theatre and ice skating (solar powered). People need human-scale activities that invite maximum participation; they need to see a connection between what they do and what they have, hence the importance of the orchard.

There would be room for a few large shops and many small ones and ample disabled parking. All shops create jobs, but small ones create more relative to their size.

Near enough anything would be better than yet another temple to consumerism, the parent of spiritual poverty and other unlovely offspring, such as obesity, depression and vandalism. There is no joy or beauty in a car park. Foinavon, incidentally, are not in Reading but in Pangbourne, a charming Berkshire village with nary a shopping centre in sight. They have no plans to build in Pangbourne the sort of monstrosity they plan for Trowbridge.

What about putting an observatory on one of the roofs? If you free your imagination, Mr Payne, the sky is the limit.

PEGGY THOMAS,

Sanders Road,

Trowbridge.