For the second time in recent years (the other time being the proposed footbridge) Bradford on Avon’s Town Council has failed to carry residents with it on an important project. This time, the town has voted No to the Historic Core Zone.

I can think of two factors which might account for this: l The TC’s inability or unwillingness to compromise on any aspect of the proposal; to do so perhaps would have carried more residents with them l A failure to develop the argument beyond wall-to-wall blandishments, over many, many months. What we lacked here, and for the bridge, was any real business case, attempting to quantify the social benefits of the project, to set against the costs – something to show residents what the HCZ was worth: it’s a standard DfT approach. I made the same point after the bridge fiasco, but nothing has changed in the thinking for the HCZ.

It’s all very disappointing. Whatever our next capital project is, please can the Town Council take note?

Andrew Rolph, Tory, Bradford on Avon.