Following Mayor Goldstone’s rallying speech promising to fend off unwanted development, the 300-plus Malmesbury residents, who gathered in the town hall on September 14 to oppose plans to build hundreds more houses here, agreed that a committee, under the aegis of the town council, would meet to forge viable arguments against such development.

Last Friday this committee met and, as a concerned resident, I went along to find that attendance was by invitation only. Thanks to the good sense of the mayor I was allowed to stay, as were two other independent residents, Karen Hughes and Marc Brown.

Karen, Marc and myself are committed to ensuring the views expressed by the townsfolk at the town hall meeting, to oppose the unwanted development, are kept before the committee and that viable arguments against new development are presented to the county planning authorities.

Malmesbury residents opposed to hundreds of new houses in the town are welcome to contact us with messages of support and useful ideas. Our email addresses are: marc_e_brown@tiscali.co.uk and bryn.rowlands@btinternet.com

Bryn Rowlands, Wychurch Road, Malmesbury.