It was with a feeling of surprise, anger and bittnerness that I read on page two of the Gazette & Herald on January 9 that the ugly issue of Birds Marsh had not, in actual fact, been resolved through the acquisition of Village Green status.

In the letter you kindly published on February 21, 2013, I stated that I was a teacher, of what was Chippenham Grammar School (now Hardenhuish) in the 1960s.

Staff organised groups of children to spend days in Birds Marsh for educational and recreational purposes – the exact reason it was bequeathed to the people of Chippenham for their leisure and enjoyment by the Scott-Ash family.

It appears the council has neither the teeth nor the vision to see what an extraordinarily beautiful environment this is. Some of us have come to know it and learn every inch, bush, ditch and tree in it.

For purely financial reasons the council is intent on turning this woodland and surrounding fields into a concrete jungle of powder-coated stone boxes.

Peter Humphries’ determined crusade has exhausted all the possibilities in an effort to halt this development. As a last resort, let the good citizens of Chippenham galvanise themselves into action and show their active support to prevent it.

Hands off Birds Marsh and the surrounding countryside.

David Andrews, Hilmarton.