May I congratulate Mr Habkirk on his excellent letter of the week last week.

Over the past 50-odd years the boundaries of building around Chippenham have moved proportionally by the demand of people, be it business, homes or leisure and, rightly or wrongly, The Range is just another such move.

Pewsham, Monkton Park, Hardens Mead and Queens Crescent have been built in most people’s lifetimes and, more recently, Cepen Park North and South.

This kind of expansion is called progress, something the local council can’t seem to grasp.

Reality is not to everyone’s liking, especially when it’s on your own doorstep, but the people of Chippenham deserve this store and as the centre of the town has been taken over by coffee shops, charity shops and banks, this is an idle site.

As for the letter regarding building The Range out by Junction 17 and the miles travelled, Mr Perry is in my view missing the point.

This warehouse is to service the south of the country so the majority of lorry movements will still go down the A350. So why not embrace the proposed site and the people of Chippenham can have a big name store locally instead of losing out to other towns, as in the past?

One more point. People would be more inclined to stop off at the town centre if The Range were built on the proposed site, even if it’s only for a coffee or to see how much money they have left, but if it were at Junction 17 I would suggest they would go up the motorway or drive straight home.

This is a golden opportunity for the people of Chippenham so please don’t lose it. There seem to be no second chances.

Gerald Clark, Parkside, Chippenham.