I note that there has been no attempt whatsoever, by Redcliffe Homes or the authorities, to deny the accurate claims made by Mr Moriaty (Gazette, September 4) relating to contamination reports dated 2007, revealing arsenic, cyanide, lead and other health threatening toxins in Redcliffe Homes' Brooklands development site, Chippenham.

The presence of these toxins in a report concluding that "there are unacceptable risks associated with this site" and the fact that a report by Wessex water stated, "it is impossible to say whether or not the toxic contaminates will migrate to the water supply pipes and the nearby railway is a source of contamination" are findings amounting to a time bomb, that would concern anyone considering buying any property.

I have known the piece of land, part of the river Avon flood plain, as the Environment Agency web site confirms, upon which Redcliffe Homes are building new homes, well for around 50 years.

In fact my family used the very land, upon which these homes now stand, for various livestock and on a number of occasions found our cattle standing belly deep in sewage contaminated flood water.

If permeable grass land could flood to that depth in the past what does the future hold, now that this green field site has been concreted over? And where will the predicted increases in rainfall go?

Isn't it about time we asked for proper site investigations to ascertain suitability for housing, before the planning consultation process is even begun?

Simple steps, which appear to be overlooked in the haste to provide more new homes, that unsuspecting purchasers may later discover were unsuitable places to live, to their cost and regret.

Linda Ayres, Rowden Lane, Chippenham