Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Developers win appeal on Paxcroft Mead site.
The inspector dismissed the concerns of local councillors and residents that the infrastructure to service the development was inadequate, the roads which were supposed to carry the extra traffic have not been built and the schools for the extra children don't exist.

The Mead School is over-subscribed and might be 'merging' with Wingfield primary but this meant nothing to 'the man from the ministry'. He also seems to have taken no account of the misery to be inflicted on existing residents by more construction traffic as he refused to consider an alternative option put forward by the council for access from West Ashton Road.

So, existing local residents will face a couple of years of mayhem followed by the spectacle of the new residents trying to find somewhere to park their cars. It's a pity that the big-wigs in Westminster never get to see the chaos that their well thought out (sic) policies create. Still, I guess that if I was ever offered en extra £150 a day (tax free) simply for turning up for work, I wouldn't really worry too much about the problems that were building-up in the years ahead.