After the HCZ vote, I have written this open letter to Cllr John Thomson, deputy leader of Wiltshire Council and Cabinet Member for highways, street scene and broadband.

Dear Cllr Thomson, You need to know that I am one of many, many people in Bradford on Avon feeling extremely angry over the way Wiltshire Council, and you in particular, have handled the situation with the Bradford on Avon Historic Core Zone.

You had an excellent opportunity to show wise leadership in this difficult situation and did not take this. It is my opinion that you have adopted an entirely anti-democratic stance in the way you have chosen to go about resolving the situation. This is totally unacceptable.

I fail to understand why a town poll was even suggested in the first place when other avenues could have been pursued and why you are prepared to waste £150,000 of public money.

So I should be grateful if you could answer these questions for me: * Why was a town poll suggested when the full democratic process had already been followed, namely endorsement by the Town Council and Area Board, the elected members for Bradford on Avon?

In your senior position in the Wiltshire Council Cabinet you must have been aware of the damage the town poll over the footbridge caused to the social fabric of the town a few years ago; surely a more sensitive approach now could have been adopted over the HCZ rather than a crude town poll?

* Why were you prepared to write off over six years of hard and detailed work by your officers and many volunteers from the town and £150,000 of public money that had already been spent in the consultation, design and engineering process which took the project to the edge of fruition? And, by the way is still there and can be utilised.

* Where will the money earmarked for the first phase now be spent? Will Bradford on Avon benefit from this in any way?

* What will you now do to ensure Bradford on Avon is given the town centre improvements it deserves and so desperately and immediately needs? Or are you simply going to abandon us, which is now the general feeling in the town?

As a senior member of Wiltshire Council you now need to show true leadership and courage. You need to understand that there are 1,315 Yes voters (44 per cent of the vote) here in Bradford on Avon who do matter and who are extremely concerned about pedestrian safety and the future prosperity and viability of the town. We deserve honest answers to why you have followed the path you did and need to be given hope that the town will not be allowed to wither and die in the coming years.

If you simply abide by the result of the town poll and do nothing for Bradford on Avon we’ll be absolutely clear that almost half the people in Bradford on Avon do not matter and I’m sure your conscience would not allow you to live with the responsibility of that.

Richard Craft, Resident of Regents Place, Bradford on Avon for 30 years.