THIS letter is in response to the column in the Evening Advertiser on February 18 by Jeff King "Football writer and DJ on life in Swindon after Barcelona".

I wonder if he reads the letters printed in your paper?

I think not.

There have been numerous letters printed regarding the proposed development at Coate Water not just by Jean Saunders but from myself, neighbours and other residents of Swindon.

Mr King spends so much time at Barnfield and on first name terms with the slugs. Big deal! The issues involved here are far greater, carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere by car fumes and central heating boilers.

We are all paying the price for the damage to the environment over the past 100 years ie one in five children now suffer with asthma, birds are disappearing from our gardens, if you want to cycle you should wear a mask to avoid choking from the fumes.

There is also the shortage of water due to increasing consumption by all of us. If planning permission is granted for all the thousands of houses around Swindon and the university, where will the water come from?

We take it for granted, but if global warming continues as scientists predict we have to act now because once the bulldozers move in and the concrete is laid it will be too late.

Mr King this is from the forward thinkers of Coate Water.

SANDRA MATTHEWS

Coate Lane