As one of the ‘nimbys’ referred to by Tony Fellenor in his letter castigating our council over the ongoing Battle of the Range I feel the rare urge to stand up and be counted.

Our country, our county and especially our ever expanding Chippenham does not need 1,000 more jobs – that is just the short-term response to the real problem, that of an ever-increasing population.

What we need, and soon, is for people to accept that there is a serious problem of overpopulation in this country, something that politicians will never discuss unless pushed, and start talking about ways to reduce it, not just slow it down.

A good start would be to make the word ‘growth’, (the single word that encompasses every justification of more houses, more factories and more building over our beautiful countryside), a dirty word and seen for what it is, the get-out for politicians and businessmen the world over.

Chippenham has a good, obvious boundary for development to its west side and is already struggling to live within its existing infrastructure, so let’s be grateful that this decision, however late, has been reached and vow to give better guidance and support to our council in the future.

Simon Barnes, Folly Lane, Lacock.