There was a snippet in this paper a couple of weeks ago about vandalism on a building site in Devizes and it reminded me of a similar incident from a few years ago. In both cases, a newly-built wall was pushed over some time when the site was unoccupied.

I don’t know if the police have had any joy this time but, in the older case, the vandal was never caught.

I’m almost certain that this was the only such act perpetrated by this ‘vandal’. I say that because I happened to meet them once and they were very keen to explain why they did it.

This outwardly normal and respectable person wasn’t particularly proud of their action – something that many of us would call silly, irresponsible or downright criminal – but they said they did it out of rage and frustration.

That might sound a bit over- dramatic but they, and many others felt that they had been totally disregarded. New houses were being built in a place that most felt neither needed nor could accommodate them.

The vandal was one of a group of locals who had gone through due process to raise their objections to the development but seemingly had their concerns brushed aside. Maybe there was more than a little NIMBYism involved but they felt marginalised and ignored and this was just one final, futile ‘up yours’.

Since then, Wiltshire has had a lot of new houses and Devizes seems to have had more than its fair share of those – you might disagree. Now it looks like we’re going to get another 350, courtesy of a Scottish development company.

No-one I’ve spoken to round here wants these new houses. Most accept that towns have to grow but this should be at a sustainable rate and the town’s infrastructure needs to be funded in such as way that it can keep pace.

The town and parish councils of Devizes, Roundway and Bishops Cannings know this and objected to the development.

Interested observers expected Wiltshire Council to roll over and let the developers tickle its tummy but no, they turned the plans down because it is outside the limits of development. Hats off to all the councils who are fighting our corner. The battle’s not won, though. There is a lot of money to be made so the developers are appealing.

To digress slightly, I used to think it was a stitch-up that Devizes seems to get most of the new homes in the former Kennet area whilst Marlborough gets off lightly – you could call it parochial paranoia.

But then someone who knows more about this than I do (that doesn’t narrow it down much, I hear you say) told me that the reason for this is simply that the landowners in Marlborough won’t sell. I wish their peers in Devizes felt the same. If they resisted the quick buck then we wouldn’t have this problem.

But it’s difficult to be too critical here. Although the buck is quick, it’s also very big.

Most of us would do the same if given the chance to set up ourselves and our families for the foreseeable future. The fact that one of the recent sellers of land in Devizes was the Crown Estates is neither here nor there.

I’m certainly no advocate of vandalism. When all’s said and done, it’s a criminal act and if we start picking and choosing which laws we fancy obeying, we’re in trouble.

But you can understand how local people lash out when we feel we’re being ridden over roughshod.

So it’s good to see that Claire Perry has Eric Pickles to ask for the appeal to be heard by Ministers.

So, come on, you lot at the top. You’re always wittering on about localism. Prove to us that that it’s not just empty rhetoric. Listen to us!