Further to the article by Major General John Page of the Trust for Devizes warning of the threat posed to the town of the house building proposals.

The meeting of the Kennet District Council planning committee on November 2 gave little reassurance. The total number of objections received by Kennet to the first draft of its new Local Plan was 1,336, of which 660 referred to proposed housing developments.

Many objectors were concerned at the imbalance in housing development in Kennet, 66 per cent of all housing in Kennet since April 1999 has been scheduled for Devizes, with about nine per cent for Marlborough, nine per cent for Tidworth, eight per cent for Ludgershall, eight per cent for Pewsey .

Objectors to this imbalance are informed in Marlborough "significant environmental constraints limit the availability of suitable land for development" (page 1.24 of the report).

Points raised by objectors has a traffic survey been carried out in the last year along the Swindon Road, what time of day was this done, has it been published, what were its conclusions? have been ignored.

Delving back further to the 1990s to the proposals outlining the way that Kennet's plans have developed, one finds the plans were for three areas to bear the brunt of housing development, Devizes, Marlborough and Tidworth.

Kennet officers then discover Marlborough is suitable for limited development. Who then made the assessments and why were these environmental constraints not obvious then?

Tidworth has the disadvantage that the major landowner is the MoD and its release of land could not be guaranteed.

Having found that two of their main areas for expansion were unsuitable, Kennet decided to push two thirds of their housing requirement into Devizes. Kennet's refusal to rethink the plan has created a bleak future for Devizes. There are 400 houses being built east of Brickley Lane and at Wayside Farm along the Nursteed Road.

Planning permission is being sought for a further 755; 380 of these will be sited on the A361 Swindon Road, on the Le Marchant Barracks 50 houses, Roundway Hill 30 houses, Quakers Walk 300 houses plus a school with roads linking these developments to the A361.

Traffic along the A361 comes to a halt at Cannings Garage during rush hour. The prospect of far more traffic turning from the main road to the housing developments and to the school will worsen the existing problems.

And the new public records office due in Devizes will give rise to 50,000 visitors a year. Devizes will turn into a motoring jungle and a pedestrian nightmare.

But we can still protest. A second draft of the Local Plan is due from January 18 and a public inquiry is scheduled from September 4.

HARRY CLAYTON

Roundway Park, Devizes