THE ignorance of residents in Bradford on Avon who packed a council meeting this week to protest at a proposal to open flats for people with mental health problems is staggering.

The plan being proposed by the West Wiltshire Housing Society would give people suffering low-grade problems the chance to rebuild their lives at the heart of a supposedly caring community.

It goes without saying that anyone deemed a danger to the public will not be considered for placement in such a unit. But that hasn't halted the knee-jerk reaction of residents such as the one who said they didn't want 'lunatics' living in the town.

Another even went on to bracket mental health suffererers with paedophiles. This is NIMBYism on a grand scale. At a time of year when goodwill to all men is supposed to prevail, the people of Bradford have let us all down badly.