Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Who’s scratching who’s back?

I WOULD like to respond to the Police and Crime Commissioner’s letter in last week’s Gazette.

The PCC says he supports his inspector’s decision not to provide details of local crime statistics to Calne Town Council because they are readily available online.

Whilst we may be able to find the crime statistics, we are not being given an accurate picture of the local situation.

The PCC goes on to say that “ we cannot expect our already overstretched officers to delve through the data”.

I can’t help thinking that our officers would have more time if they didn’t have to muster at Chippenham on a daily basis.

For many months Calne was manned by a single PCSO so its unsurprising that crime has risen.

For instance, the theft of the Pigs Sculpture, and the local supermarket which was raided daily by shoplifters without any fear of being caught. That spree was eventually curtailed when the CCTV van, was deployed.

I might add that the CCTV van was provided by Calne, Corsham and Chippenham Area Boards.

Calne Town Council provides a CCTV operation manned by willing volunteers, we have a Community Safety Forum, a growing Neighbourhood Watch operation and a Street Pastor Scheme is about to start.

We are ‘doing our bit’ to support our local officers who do a great job.

The PCC seems to provide plenty of data when he asks for yet another rise in his precept, so I respectfully request that he ‘does his bit ‘ and provides the Town Council with accurate details so that we are properly informed.

CLLR GLENIS ANSELL, Calne Town Mayor

Cast your EU vote

IT NOW seems very likely that elections to the European Union parliament will happen on 23 May. While Wiltshire misses out on the fun of local elections this year, all voters in Wiltshire will be able to vote for the South West’s 6 MEPs.

Unlike elections for MPs and councillors, this election is done under a form of proportional representation, so we can vote for who we want with a much higher likelihood that our vote will count.

Citizens of other EU countries can register to vote in this election. People can register to vote on the government’s website, and citizens of other EU countries will have to complete a second form, available at https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/how-am-i-represented/european-parliment.

You must register by Tuesday 7 May in order to vote, but I wouldn’t wait - do it today.

HELEN BELCHER, Lib Dem Prospective MP for Chippenham Corsham

Keep on fighting

HAVING read with interest the two letters in last week’s Gazette, both well written, caution should be the next move.

Because regardless of what Wiltshire Council say with their previously well rehearsed meaningless rhetoric about the three schools not being fit for purpose, to me they have already made up their minds as to what is going to happen regardless of any annoying delays ie parents and supporters voicing their opinions against the proposals.

Let’s just hope for once that those opposed to the changes win as I know from experience what devastation to the pupils and parents will be caused. Keep on protesting and don`t let your guard slip or you`ll miss the changes slipping through secretly to avoid any confrontation.

TONY FELLENOR, Farleigh Close, Chippenham

What is going on

THE roadworks at the now gone Little George roundabout has now in its seventh month and still no sign of completion. Old signage still says there is a roundabout.

When I wrote last October I asked who was in charge of the project but no-one on the council admitted being responsible, they should be put in stocks and pelted with rotten fruit.

I am also at a loss why local councillors who must have seen the chaos have not got involved. Makes me think that they are a waste of time.

I walk down past the site most days with the grandchildren and at one stage it was a ever-changing obstacle course.

R KNIGHT, Chippenham

One rule for all?

I READ the piece on the recent Dyson planning application. Personally, having lived around here for 36 years, through the era of the Hercs etc the proposed flight numbers do not seem that bad. Hence I don’t have strong views against the application but it has clearly been mismanaged on the PR front.

Some residents are obviously wound up and I would suggest need some reassurance, maybe even some limits on flying hours, modification of the lights, more soundproofing, etc. However, I think it is interesting to compare this large application with the response to 15/04184/FUL.

I should add I have no relation, nor even know the people who made this application but I am a strong believer in a free society without persecution on race, religion, etc.

The Dyson application is huge, costing maybe a million or more I’d guess. Stanton St Quintin Parish Council and Cllr Greenman are totally quiet on this issue and it was left to residents to find out about it and pass the word around.

Compare that with 15/04184/FUL which was an extension to a house. The parish council stated it was strongly opposed and Cllr Greenman called this into committee.

The reason given smacks to me of thinly disguised religious intolerance too as I find it hard to believe anyone can be unaware that open plan interiors are on trend and have been for some years. Check out the committee report, which states that the applicant was asked if he intended to use “the property as a meeting house” and he replied this was not the case and it was a residential house.

And also check out the parish council response where they state “The Parish Council is aware that the County Councillor has been contacted re concerns about the future use of the extension”.

This question should never have been asked. We live in a free country. You are allowed to hold religious meetings at your home if you wish to. It is a freedom under law, the Human Rights Act for one.

Only if such meetings are a nuisance (noise perhaps) can the law act and that would be by necessity after the fact.

Personally I cannot see the difference between a quiet prayer meeting and a coffee morning and certainly the law is blind to the difference.

The committee report mentions that this application had 5 letters of complaint, 3 of which came from the same household, and yet this application was called into committee, a process designed for contenious or large applications.

The priorities of the parish council and Cllr Greenman seem rather skewed to me. Silence on a large development potentially affecting many ratepayers yet all over a minor house extension of interest to just 3 households. This is not the only example I could quote, just from this village.

M. REEVES, Lower Stanton St Quintin, Chippenham

Help her for mums

THIS week marks Maternal Mental Health Matters Week (29 April - 5 May). As a mum-of-two who experienced low mood and anxiety, I was left feeling unable to cope during my second pregnancy.

I realised how prevalent mental health issues are amongst parents and how difficult it can be to ask for help.

Our recent research shows that over half (54%) of mums with children aged five and under have felt anxious since having a child, 45% have felt low, and over a third (35%) depressed.

Worse still, many face these challenges alone, not able to tell others about their feelings.

While I was lucky enough to get the help I needed, I found the information about mental wellbeing quite fragmented.

This led me to set up Motherdom (available through motherdom.co.uk and in selected stores) a magazine for parents which attempts to fill that gap.

Asking for help is by no means a sign of weakness. It is often the strongest thing you can do.

By speaking out I hope we are able to let people know they are not alone.

Anna Ceesay, Founding Editor of Motherdom, Mortimer Street, London

It’s politicians’ fault

I CAN’T help feeling that Tim Page’s call last week for us to rally behind Farage and his Brexit party in the forthcoming EU elections is pretty unconvincing. Of course, we’re all fed up with Brexit and would like to see an end to what he describes as this ‘tortuous process’ but blaming the EU for our ‘humiliation’ and describing the EU as ‘malign’ is simply misplaced.

We are in this mess because of self-serving and populist politicians like Farage and Johnson spreading misinformation, and hopeless leadership by both May and Corbyn.

Gordon Sim, in the same edition, is right to point out that our MP, James Gray, fails to explain the benefits of leaving the EU. Why? Because he knows his ‘Full English Brexit’ will mainly benefit a handful of wealthy individuals but damage the rest of us. And what about the other three nations?

However, we do benefit enormously by being in the EU. According to EU data (published by myEU.uk), firms within 5 miles of Chippenham have shared around £2.8 billion since 2010 for research, educational projects and industrial processes thereby creating employment, opportunities and wealth – and that’s on top of subsidies of around £4.7million per year to the agricultural sector across Wiltshire. Chippenham, Trowbridge and Melksham hospitals have around 90 nurses, 90 doctors and 180 other staff from around the EU keeping our NHS running – and that’s on top of the many EU dentists and GPs keeping us healthy as well as the dozens of EU nationals working in the care sector.

Wiltshire CC, excluding Swindon, has received around £48 million from the EU Structural and Regional Development funds since 2014. These are just some of the financial benefits. The social, educational, professional and cultural benefits are immeasurable. Students from our colleges and universities have had opportunities to study and gain experience across Europe, we all have the freedom to work and live anywhere we choose in Europe, we all have the freedom to travel and experience other cultures unhindered by visas and red tape.

Yes, the EU needs reform but it’s better to be at the table helping to influence those reforms than being on the outside with no input. A survey in Chippenham carried out by North Wilts & Chippenham for EU on 13th April indicated a majority of local people that responded now believe we should have a second referendum and that we should stay in the EU, approximately 70%. Contrary to what Tim Page advocates, only a handful of people thought we should leave on WTO terms.

Brexiteers talk about ‘betraying democracy’. Why? Because they know opinion has shifted away from their dogma. What can be more democratic than giving people a voice? We should have a second referendum but first we should all get out and vote for positive, constructive MEPs in the EU elections on May 23rd. We’ve all had enough of negative, destructive politics from MPs in Westminster and MEPs in Brussels polishing their own egos, we certainly don’t need more of the same next time round.

GRAHAM WATSON, The Ley, Box

Two bad choices

HASN’T it been nice not to have to think about the disruption of Brexit for the last two weeks.

But with no end in sight we now face the possibility of European Parliament elections, with two parties vying for the ‘quit the EU’ vote and not much to choose between them. One party includes and supports some unpleasant characters from the hard right of the political spectrum. The leader of the other party previously led a group of MEPs whose shameful behaviour in the European Parliament – from disrupting proceedings to actually brawling among themselves – has done damage to the UK’s reputation internationally.

If the European Parliament vote does go ahead I would urge readers to vote for a party that will actually stand up for the UK in Europe, rather than pushing extremist views or acting like spoilt children and making us all look stupid. Better still write to your MP and urge him or her to support another referendum on any deal they may eventually agree on. Let’s make it a fair vote this time so we can get the whole thing over with.

PETE FOSTER, Devizes

Wish with care

MR Tim Page (Wiltshire County Organiser of The Brexit Party) recommends a “sea change at the helm,” in his letter of 18 April 2019. It is no surprise who he recommends as The Great Helmsman, and doubtless Nigel Farrage and his Party will give the political establishment a kicking if the European elections do go ahead next month. It may alleviate some people’s anger, but it does not change the issue we have of finding a way through the Brexit crisis.

Those who are tempted by the Brexit Party as a protest vote against Westminster politicians, should however be careful what they wish for.

The Brexit Party is not a serious response to the political crisis brought about by Brexit, but is little more than a platform for an attention seeking political “chancer”, with a simple populist agenda.

Peddling myths, such as the “intransigent and malign EU” described in Mr Page’s letter, really need to be exposed as utterly untrue. Mr Farrage is astute enough to know that his simple sound bites resonate with people. His mean-minded rhetoric cannot change the facts that this country is stronger, wealthier, more secure and a more outward looking and tolerant society within the EU. As for the glorious future that awaits us adrift under WTO terms, this nonsense has been thoroughly confined to the rubbish bin by every respected economist.

Mr Farrage said on national TV( 11 January 2018)“ I am reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership”. I look forward to reading this commitment for a “People’s Vote” within the Brexit Party manifesto.

TIM COTTRILL, Corsham

Let’s work together

THE Brexit Referendum was held on June 23 2016. What it revealed so clearly were the divisions already existing within our Society between the extremely wealthy compared to those who just get by, and the many more millions who live in extreme poverty.

Now nearly three years later we are still arguing over Brexit which has cost the tax payer well over 4.5 billion pounds, and taken precedence over the real issues that face this country; The Health Service, Prison Reform, Universal Credit, the care of the Elderly, the funding of the Police, Terrorism and knife violence.

At this moment we have just celebrated Easter with its message of hope and deliverance for all humanity, based upon God’s love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness revealed by Jesus. We have to remember that He was crucified for challenging those in authority, telling them that if they didn’t change their attitude to people and the world around them they would perish.

Part of that challenge was their treatment of outsiders and their lack of care for the poor. Jesus’ message was not just a matter of words, but was accompanied by the way he lived, and by going out of his way to meet ordinary people just where they were and listening to their requests. He was driven by his desire to help us all to become caring human beings, having respect for one another, even for those with whom we cannot always agree.

When it comes to Brexit there is of course widespread disagreement and we have all got to learn to respect one another, and try to do what is best for all the people of the United Kingdom. As no-one has yet found a Brexit that really works we ought not to be afraid of changing our minds, or of even remaining in the EU if that turns out to be the best option. It would be a disaster for us to imperil the Country’s well being by blindly clinging to our own personal red lines.

The fire that destroyed much of Notre Dame Cathedral just before Easter has touched people’s hearts the world over. It also prompted this response: “Our common humanity needs to be bound together, not torn apart.” That in itself is a challenging message and the French Prime Minister has already promised that Notre Dame will be rebuilt.

The disaster that overtook Notre Dame also carries a message about our own lives when they are ravaged by tragedy and uncertainty. Like the cathedral they too frequently need rebuilding. The Easter Gospel with its message of Resurrection offers Hope to everyone and the assurance that our lives like Notre Dame can also be resurrected.

FRANCIS CHADWICK, Wickfield, Devizes

Thanks to shoppers

I WOULD like to thank the people of Bradford on Avon for raising £115.30 during my street collection on Saturday 20 April in aid of Brooke (Action for Working Horses and Donkeys), a charity helping to raise the quality of life of working animals in some of the world’s poorest communities.

ROGER CHALLONER GREEN, Church Lane, Wingfield , Trowbridge

Go par for charity

IF YOU love a game of golf then why not pitch in for a good cause this year? Par for Parkinson’s is a fundraiser that gives you the opportunity to create your own golfing event to raise vital funds for charity Parkinson’s UK. Whether you want to organise a golf competition, take on a Three Course Challenge, or hold a golf quiz night, there’s something for all golf fans.

The money raised for Par for Parkinson’s will fund charity Parkinson’s UK’s research to help find a cure and improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition that affects 145,000 people in the UK, including an estimated 13,650 people in the South West.

Parkinson’s UK is the leading charity driving better care, treatments and quality of life for those with the condition. Its mission is to find a cure and improve life for everyone affected by Parkinson’s through research, information, support and campaigning.

Parkinson’s UK estimate that there are more than 40 symptoms of the condition. As well as the most widely known symptom - tremor - these range from physical symptoms like muscle stiffness to depression, anxiety, hallucinations, memory problems and dementia, but Parkinson’s affects everyone differently.

To find out how you can take part in Par for Parkinson’s and make a difference then visit: www.parkinsons.org.uk/golf

MELISSA RANKIN, Parkinson’s UK Regional Fundraiser in the South West

Hear schools sing

I AM an ambassador for WellChild, the national charity for seriously ill children, and I would like to invite primary school choirs in your area to enter an exciting singing competition.

The WellChild School Choir of the Year competition is now open to choose pupils from one lucky primary school in the UK to display their singing talents in the company of a host of celebrities and perhaps even royalty at the WellChild Awards this autumn.

WellChild is launching its third annual singing competition for primary schools across the UK to see who can perform the best version of the classic song Lean on Me, by Bill Withers. The winners will perform their version at this year’s WellChild Awards which is regularly attended by WellChild’s Patron HRH the Duke of Sussex and a host of celebrity guests.

All each school needs to do is find 20 of their best musical stars and send WellChild a video of them singing their rendition of Lean on Me. Schools can be as creative or as classical as they want, it’s up to them.

The competition will culminate in a live public vote from 12th June to 12th July. The five schools with the most votes and five schools with the highest fundraising total will then qualify for the final judging by a panel of musical experts.

The lucky winner will not only be crowned WellChild School Choir of the Year but will win the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at our prestigious WellChild Awards. The winner will be announced on September 2.

Last year’s winners Riverside School in Orpington, Kent, opened the 2018 WellChild Awards in London in front of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and celebrity guests with their show-stopping performance of Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked.

This is a fantastic opportunity for schools across the UK to get involved in a fun musical competition with a great prize while at the same time helping WellChild with their work supporting seriously ill children and their families. We would love to see as many schools as possible singing their hearts out with their version of Lean on Me so please get recording your entry now!

To get your school involved in the competition visit www.wellchild.org.uk/schoolchoir

ALEXANDRA BURKE, WellChild Ambassador, Royal Crescent, Cheltenham