Walking through town in my lunch break, I noticed a new square area paved with slate where the buskers usually set up.

Cool! I thought, a nice stage area for buskers/bands.

Then I noticed a new shiny pole.

I followed it up bending my neck and saw the worst placed clock ever.

Aha! Swindon's new Millennium clock I assume?

I'll grant you, the design is arty (bit too arty for me), but its location and height lack any common sense. (Why does that not surprise me!)

The clock is placed quite high up so you have to bend your neck to look at it at a rather steep angle.

I suppose this is so it is visible from afar?

Why then, has it been placed offset from the centre, so that it is not visible from three of the four approaches to it?

In Regent Street; the old Brunel Centre covered walkway obscures it, so does the large tree in Regent Street on the other side and so does the arty tented covering in Canal Walk.

Was the sighting of the design ever checked or is the clock's location a last minute decision, correction or workaround?

Who is responsible for the location?

The clock even looks like it is as lop-sided as the bicycle stand further down in Regent Street.

Perhaps someone in the council should buy a spirit level or ask BBC's Ground Force to lend a hand next time they erect something in the town centre.

Karsten Evans

Ford Street, Swindon