Wiltshire Council has published its draft recommendations for the location of more than 3,000 new houses around Chippenham and is about to embark on yet another consultation on its plans which, like the previous three consultations, will change nothing other than ticking the ‘public consultation’ box.

Their proposals will mean a population of more than 50,000 in the ‘community area’ and Chippenham will be the same size as Winchester or Weymouth and larger than places like Salisbury.

So what then have the local planners and politicians got planned for us apart from thousands of new people coming to live here?

Entertainment: A new cinema multiplex and restaurants such as St Stephen’s Place Leisure Park in Trowbridge (population 32,000); maybe an Arts Centre (Salisbury) or a theatre (Winchester)? No, what Chippenham gets is new seats in the Neeld Hall.

How about employment: A science park brimming with high-tech research organisations (Malvern)? State-of-the-art offices servicing international business (Farnborough)? No again; what’s planned are giant warehouse ‘sheds’ around the outskirts of town employing few people in low-paid jobs.

Recreation? The ‘Riverside Park’ – an enormous new country park south of Chippenham. Yeah! But hang on a minute, most of this is on the flood plain! The management of this ‘gift’ to the community by the developer, as part of its proposed pay-off for being allowed to build an adjacent 1,000 houses at Rowden Park, has already been rejected by Wiltshire Council which cannot develop and maintain it. Maybe a new sports stadium then? No money.

Retail? Surely a town of 50,000 gets a bustling town centre retail development? No again, but we do get TK Maxx in another out of town development.

Having dumped thousands of new houses on Chippenham to satisfy Government-imposed housing targets, it appears we’ve been abandoned to what looks like an increasingly bleak future.

Thank goodness for the dualling of the A350 and the electrification of the mainline railway which will make it easier to travel to other places that have a vision of what people want and need. Sadly this is the opposite of what the local planners and politicians said they wanted to happen for Chippenham but that’s what they call ‘progress’.

Tony Peacock, Showell, Lacock.