Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Has the WWDC planning committee lost its nerve?
There is no disputing that the land has been allocated for affordable housing almost from the time Paxcroft Mead was a twinkle in the developers balance sheet.

However, one would hope that the WWDC planners would learn from the problems already being experienced at Paxcroft Mead, Staverton Marina, Westbury Leigh etc. etc. with the lack of parking provision.

For this reason, and this reason alone, I proposed that this Private Finance Initiative application (backed ironically by WWDC) should be refused so that revised plans with additional parking could be submitted. My proposal was seconded by Trevor Carbin so it was clear that your local councillors had grave concerns for would-be residents.

Regretably, we were unable to sway enough other councillors to our point of view and, eventually, the application was permitted on the casting vote of the Chairman (Cllr. Peter Fuller, Trowbridge East). As Cllr. Fuller 'represents' a large part of Paxcroft Mead I am amazed that he could turn a blind eye to the parking problems he surely knows about. Come the June election this might be something to remember if Cllr. Fuller asks for your vote and you live on Paxcroft Mead and suffer parking problems!