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Well done Tyrone

HOW proud we should all be of our local lad Tyrone Mings on his first England cap against Bulgaria. But yet again disgraceful behaviour by some of the Bulgarian crowd tarnished what should have been a memorable day for Tyrone.

All credit to Tyrone and the England team for their professionalism but come on UEFA , kick these reoccurring offending nations out of Europe as there is NO place in today’s society for these racist views.

L. King, Chippenham

What about trains?

IT IS clear from Oliver Rawle’ letters in the Gazette & Herald over many recent weeks that he is passionate about the future of Calne and has many ideas about what needs to change.

In my opinion the greatest omission from his letters, and the Chippenham eastern bypass proposal, is an environmentally friendly alternative to extra roads - i.e. reinstating the railway line from Chippenham to Calne.

Future planning MUST be in a more sustainable direction than more roads and building on river valleys.

In Chippenham there are many traffic issues, just one of which is the amount of traffic using Station Hill. An eastern bypass will do nothing to improve this, nor the congestion in Park Lane exacerbated by the new traffic lights, nor the Bridge Centre roundabout, nor the main throughflow of traffic past the town which is the A350.

The railway to Calne became unviable like many lines during the 1950’s and 60’s due to the transfer of freight to road transport and the decrease in passengers due to cars and we all know that this trend needs to be reversed.

Reinstating the branch line to Calne, in the main using Hydrogen trains (which the government says will be the future method for non-electrified lines) would be the responsible approach to improve the transport situation whilst reducing climate damage.

Commuters in Calne would be able to travel to Chippenham station by rail avoiding the hassle of getting there by road and then paying to park. Businesses in Calne would have increased potential due to the rail link. There would even be increased tourism potential for Calne and Chippenham, especially if new technology were mixed with old and a steam train were used at appropriate times.

Building a new bypass through the river valley and then filling it in with housing etc would both decimate a valuable wildlife and recreation area, increase risk of flooding even at today’s water levels, and almost certainly make the future reinstatement of a rail link more complex. All environmentally damaging. All the opposite of what we as a society need to be doing.

As for the other traffic problems in Chippenham, the only way the A350 could flow congestion free past Chippenham would be a vast reduction in traffic volumes or for the main roundabouts at Chequers and Bumpers Farm etc to have flyovers. This would then also reduce congestion in/out of town on the A4 and A420.

Also, a link road from the top of Rowden Hill (by the hospital) down to Avenue La Fleche would take a huge volume of the through traffic for Pewsham, Derry Hill, Studley and Calne away from the Bridge Centre without needing to create another river bridge.

These would be a far better way of spending £75 million than the eastern bypass, and if we really must keep the traffic lights at the top of Park Lane then if the left lane were for Langley Road as well as Malmesbury Road, then through traffic would not have to queue behind the cars waiting to turn right into Hathaway retail park, which is the main cause of the congestion with the current layout.

I will leave the the road solutions in Calne for locals there to comment on - they will know their local situation better than anyone in Chippenham or Trowbridge.

I call upon Chippenham and Calne Town Councils, Wiltshire Council and our MP’s to work together to come up with a far more environmentally friendly strategy based on these suggestions and those of other local residents of Chippenham & Calne.

Martin Bovett, Chippenham

Calne needs help

GROWTH Hub’ towns (ie. Chippenham, Trowbridge, Salisbury) and settlements on ‘Trunk Roads’ (eg. A350) are represented at SWLEP (Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership) meetings, where hundreds of millions of pounds of EU and central government investment funding are managed. Calne is classified as a ‘Rural’ town and so does not benefit from ‘Growth Hub’ funding. Calne is not routinely represented or mentioned at SWLEP meetings, but could still attract SWLEP funding if Wiltshire Council were to propose investment in Calne.

Wiltshire Council support is pivotal in securing EU and central government funding as planning stage funding must be guaranteed by Wiltshire Council. Wiltshire Council operates a Cabinet Member/ Portfolio Holder governance system, whereby individual Councillors representing the party in power (Conservative) have responsibility for specific areas (eg. European Structural Investment Fund, Health or Transport.) There are 63 Conservative Wiltshire Council Councillors of whom 24 hold Cabinet Member or Portfolio Holder positions. Portfolio Holders are not routinely present throughout Cabinet meetings, but advise Cabinet Members. Future investment is debated at Cabinet meetings. Calne and Calne Rural return 4 Conservative Wiltshire County Councillors, none of whom holds a Cabinet or Portfolio position. Calne Town was hardly mentioned in the pubic session of Wiltshire Council’s last Cabinet meeting.

SWLEP HQ Chippenham has received investment for: town centre, railway station, A350 new dual carriageway upgrades and is in the process of securing a full length Eastern bypass. Calne obviously doesn’t need anything.

Oliver Rawle, The Green, Calne

Cut pollution now

I AM a Calne Town Councillor and help manage the Calne Community Hub Service at Wiltshire Library. I also engage in Business & Community activities of Music, Arts, Crafts & Entertainment. I have been concerned for some time, as are many Town Councillors and Town Residents, of the serious congestion of traffic in the Centre of Calne and the resulting serious pollution, recognised as one of the worst in Wiltshire. There have already been several studies and suggestions on how these problems could be significantly resolved. It is another case of a great many words & deep sympathy, Policy Assertions, Proposals & Resolutions, but precious little action.

I am aware of the claim that pollution in Calne Town is being regularly monitored and that the assertion is that the problem is being addressed and has improved.

Those statistical improvements are clearly marginal, temporary & fluctuant and only represent limited aspects of key pollutants. The Pollution impact is wider than that being monitored and wider than the monitoring considers. The resulting levels of Pollutants are causing and impacting on People’s Physical Ill Health, especially those with Asthma & other existing Breathing Problems, Lung Cancer and many Allergies. It is contributing to people’s early disablement and deaths and driving others away. In my capacity as Town Councillor and as Volunteer Coordinator in the Calne Community Hub (where people report their problems and seek advice) I am regularly approached by people about Peak Time Congestion and various features of Pollution in the Centre of Calne.

It is one of the major concerns of most local people, along with the failing Infrastructure, Community & Youth Provision and High Rents and increasing Charges. The congestion is disruptive to the business in the town and has clearly led to the impoverishment of the Business & Commercial Environment. Combined with Wiltshire Council Increasing Commercial Rents we are losing businesses to other towns that are better provided for. The Town is becoming deprived in all important areas and the Congestion & Pollution adds to the sense, expressed by many, of being trapped and leads to the exodus of many young people.

Terry Couchman, Town Councillor, Calne Community Hub Organiser Music, Arts, Crafts and Entertainment Organiser, A resident of Calne Town Central

Respect democracy

MARK Griffiths responded to my letter (New Vote is Vital, 11 October) which had only been published in the Wiltshire Times so was unseen by Gazette readers. My letter explained that it had taken three years since the referendum to understand the advantages of being a member of the EU (such as its single market of 400 million, its protections of food safety, rights, welfare and numerous areas of mutual interest).

I also explained that the vote of 2016 had been respected, but removing ourselves after 42 years was proving more complicated than expected, and that the terms of departure needed to be agreed with all those affected in a confirmatory vote.

Since personal impacts of leaving are poorly understood, my appeal to readers who might be tempted to say “we voted, get over it”, was a request to at least recognise that over half the population of this country are profoundly anxious about their livelihoods and family wellbeing.

Mr Griffiths asked me to “pop over the channel” whilst there was time, and inexplicably assumed I was a liberal democrat (for his information I do not belong to any political party.)

Let me clarify: Mr Griffiths’ vote in 2016 does not confer any rights to ask dissenters from his point view to leave the UK. Instead he displays an un-British lack of tolerance and absence of democratic respect for another person’s point of view.

Mr Griffiths is entitled to his point of view but his underlying illiberal assumption is that we shouldn’t vote again. Should we never have another general election? Should we never be allowed to change our minds? Should we never be allowed to play another World Cup?

Democracy is a process, not an event at one point in time. Now we are better informed about the issues we can vote again. Any other process is dictatorship, or worse, mob rule.

Kate Freeman, Devizes for EU

For clarity, Letters to the Editor on topics such as the EU, which interest people across Wiltshire, may be published in either or both the Gazette and Herald and the Wiltshire Times: Editor

Nice to see you.....

I WAS in Parliament Square representing the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation, the members of which will be disastrously hit by Brexit as they export live shellfish to Europe, so do not believe Boris Johnson when he says it will be a bonanza for fishermen; that is yet another untruth. Blow me suddenly I saw the poster from Devizes and let out a great cheer!

Why? I was born and raised in Devizes, (nee Chivers), now living on the Isle of Arran in western Scotland (head to Glasgow, turn left and head down the Firth of Clyde and Arran sits west of there). I was so pleased to see Devizes plus banner, and two smiling faces.

Good on Devizes, it made my day, another symbol of the reaching out to all corners of the UK.

Sally Campbell, Blairbeg House, Isle of Arran

One of the million

ON Saturday I joined a coach of marchers from Malmesbury‎ heading for London. As we marched, Parliament sat for the first time on a Saturday in 37 years. Our call on MPs is that the Prime Minister’s deal, when all its disastrous content is known, should go back to the people to decide to leave on this basis or to remain in the EU.

The detail of the Prime Minister’s deal that removes safeguards on environmental standards and workers’ rights and a real threat to the continuation of the United Kingdom shows the reality of leaving the EU. Nor would such a move end the arguments and debates as year of tortuous trade negotiations with Europe would lie ahead.

Remaining or leaving impacts all our futures and those of our children and grandchildren. Only we voters have the right to make such a fundamental and informed decision.

A million marched. I was proud to be among them. Let us hope MPs heard us loud and clear and give us the final say on our future with the EU.

Dr Brian Mathew, Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for North Wiltshire & Wiltshire Councillor for Box & Colerne

What’s going on

IF YOU make a ‘no deal brexit’ illegal, then block the only deal the EU will offer us – the only logical conclusion is that they wish to block Brexit. This is despite the UK population having voted simply to ‘leave the European Union’ by a majority of more than one a quarter million in the largest democratic vote in UK history.

Across the world people look up to England as the birthplace of parliamentary democracy, which gradually developed after our first parliament was called more than 750 years ago.

Over the last two months Labour and Lib-Dem MPs have repeatedly sought to frustrate the clearly expressed will of the British people that we leave the EU - and in order to hold on to their power – they have also twice blocked a general election.

The British people must be allowed to have a general election.

Dr Martin Parsons, Devizes