Your correspondent B R Seidel (Town threatens to swamp all around) is absolutely right. Constant rapid expansion of the town has in my opinion had damaging side effects, not least to a sense of community. A year or two ago the Sunday Times reported that Swindon's electoral roll had the largest percentage annual change in the country, something like 35 per cent. As a consequence, relatively few people are committed enough to put down roots in the community as they expect soon to move on.

On Thursday, your lead story Carnage on the M4 also reported tailbacks stretching 20 miles, leaving many of Swindon's main roads completely gridlocked. I know, because I got caught in it, and spent 45 minutes on a journey that normally takes ten. If an accident at Membury can cause so much congestion in Swindon, it is utter madness to aggravate it by building so many houses on the Front Garden.

What Swindon needs is a pause in its frenetic growth so that its infrastructure can catch up.

John C Newman

Bath Road, Swindon