Through your column, I would seek to clarify two points raised by Mrs Sims in her letter to you.

Firstly, I have never said ‘I have no knowledge of the impending work’. My concern was that the information I was able to glean was from landowners and other sources, rather than from Persimmon or the WC highways or planning departments.

Also, that I wasn’t able to pin anyone down for a specific start date until only a few days before work actually commenced. As Mrs Sims states, I made reference to the imminent start in both a parish news article and my newsletter – in fact, due to the lead-in time for my newsletter, and the time it takes to distribute 2,000 copies, I felt quite embarrassed that the newsletter stated that ‘a start was imminent’ when I was putting it through letter boxes after the work was already underway.

Secondly, I can promise Mrs Sims that I am never ‘economical with the truth’. I always give an honest answer to any question I am asked, even when I know that the answer I give is not the one that people want to hear – some residents of Church Street will vouch for this. I am a firm believer that too many politicians say what is easy and what people want to hear, rather than telling the truth if the truth is going to be unpalatable and make them unpopular; I am not a politician from that mould.

Ernie Clark, Wiltshire Councillor , for Hilperton Division, Stonelea, Hilperton.