FOLLOWING the revelation on a recent BBC programme that 78 per cent of the people in England and Wales live in large towns and cities, I am beginning to understand why I feel so out of step with much Government home policy.

For example, Kennet, as far as Devizes is concerned, is having to follow a Government directive to cut down on car parking to encourage the use of public transport, bicycles and feet.

This is a very worthy cause, and in London, one which would cause me no qualms to support; but here more than 50 per cent of the shoppers come in from surrounding villages where, in some cases, there are two or three buses a day, not one every few minutes.

The town centre is on a step at the top of one hill and at the bottom of another, difficult for all but the very fit to even push a bike up, let alone cycle.

Nearly 50 per cent of the district population is over the age of 55; and where to be in the postal district, and therefore, as far as London is concerned, within walking distance of the town centre, can mean you are eight miles away from Woolworths.

If you want to visit the town in the evening, to go to a restaurant, the cinema or even midnight mass, forget about public transport, the buses stop before the cinema does, and even the taxis go home, unless previously booked, well before midnight.

As a result of following this Government directive, the town is dying before our eyes, shops are closing at a rate of one or two a week, tourists are not stopping because they can't find anywhere to park, and even locals are preferring to shop at the nearest superstore eight miles away, because at least they can park there.

The fact that industry is also moving out cannot be blamed on the Government, that is the result of global economic downturn, but the fact that house building on greenfield sites continues apace, with no jobs in town for the people who come to live in those houses, is again the result of a decision and directive from London.

The people who are making policies are not the MPs you voted for, they only adopt them after a number have discussed them in committee.

It is the London-based, career minded, politically correct senior civil servants who think up a plan that should work well for the 78 per cent of voters who live in cities and big towns, and then force the rest of Britain to conform.

I realise this sounds paranoid, but I happen to believe it true, having been married to one.

I don't approve of fox hunting and so I am sad that the rally on September 22 has that at its back; if it were more to protest on the total ignorance London government shows towards rural areas in general, I would be right there, shouting.

LESLEY HAWES

Mill Head

Worton