IT would be tragic if remarks by concerned local residents were to deprive the people of Bradford on Avon of their Neighbourhood Plan when it is put to public vote on September 20.
In your August 18 issue you included the following quotes: “lay the town wide open to developments way beyond Wiltshire Council’s core strategy”and “open the floodgates.” Careful readers will have noticed (a) that the phrase “appears to” precedes each of these two statements, and (b) that both statements refer specifically to a few of the many final amendments introduced into the neighbourhood plan by the independent examiner to cleanse the plan of errors, contradictions, ambiguities and irrelevancies.
The hard fact is that the examiner’s amendments neither “lay the town wide open” nor “open the flood gates.” 
The planning situation facing Bradford in the remaining period of the neighbourhood plan (2017 to 2026) has already been determined by national and county planning policy for the same period and remains unaffected by the Neighbourhood Plan.
Further confusion could be avoided by the examiner, Nigel McGurk, explaining to your readers what he actually meant as opposed to what he “apparently” meant.
John Seekings
Church Street
Bradford on Avon