Anonymity is granted only at the discretion of the editor, who also reserves the right to edit letters.

Stop and search

Your headline “rise in Trowbridge knife crime” reported last week is indicative, I believe, of a number of factors combining to produce higher arrest figures for this type of crime in Trowbridge.

The first factor is a commendably proactive stance by Wiltshire Police, without which some of this criminal activity would be below the public radar. However it is my view that we cannot simply arrest our way out of a crime of culture such as knife crime, particularly when it can involve young people. Like lots of violent crime, I, and others in policing, believe it needs to be treated as a public health issue and addressed with a collaborative approach by local authorities, health partners, schools and the police and other organisations.

School exclusions, which are proven to have a link to violence and knife crime, are an important indicator and can point to where intervention needs to be made into young people’s lives.

To this end I have asked for school exclusion figures for the Trowbridge area from the cabinet member for children’s services with a view to understanding how Wiltshire Council and others are assisting the police in tackling what has been described as an epidemic in some communities.

A public health approach to addressing knife and other violent crime in Scotland has reduced the Scottish murder rate by SIXTY percent in recent years.

I will be encouraging the PCC to work with the Chief Constable and other partners to strengthen intervention work with young people as we need to go much further in schools and include proper education on, and spend time convincing young people of, the dangers of involvement in knife and violent crime.

The successful Safe Drive, Stay Alive road safety programme delivered by the emergency services to teenagers across the county is one example of an outstanding initiative that could be used as a template to focus on knife crime.

Finally, as well as a collaborative approach to dealing with knife crime, I believe that we must also give our police the confidence to effectively target knife crime by encouraging the wider and targeted use of stop and search powers in areas where there is a rise in knife crime.

Wiltshire Police have made a good start in dealing with knife crime but they need our support to achieve the results that residents really need.

Councillor Jonathon Seed, Wiltshire and Swindon PCC candidate

SEN let down

I am a parent of a special needs child involved in this important decision on SEN schools.

I feel so let down , angry and upset with Wiltshire Council with their ‘new’ proposal for SEN provision. Our campaign group Wiltshire Send Action have been working with them, giving a viable proposal as an alternative. But yet they re- hash the pre determined idea of the one school option.

It’s unfair. One school does not fit all. It’s not a school for disabled children. This school has a whole range of complications and conditions.

Sadly our school lost another well loved child this week... the whole school is heartbroken. At least our third this year. Our children are vulnerable. Wiltshire Council don’t get this. It’s not all about money. These are precious human beings.

One school gives lack of choice. I was describing to a friend the other day who’s been choosing school options for her mainstream child.I pointed out we don’t have that but chose the school suited to our child with their individual needs until 19.

But if this school happens that choice is gone too! And if it doesn’t work for our child? What then? There is nowhere!

It is so wrong. I haven’t found many people who think it’s right. Wiltshire Council is just penny pinching at the cost of some of the most vulnerable and their families.

I cannot emphasise enough how much this is going to impact so badly on so many children and their families.

Wiltshire Council how could you?!

Clare Carter, Parent at St Nicholas School, Chippenham

Radio challenge

My wife, Julie, and I have just returned from a fortnight abroad. In our absence I find that I am the subject of a lengthy letter from Cllr Dom Newton regarding the proposed community radio station in Bradford on Avon. I trust you will grant me a right of reply.

Dom kindly acknowledges my involvement in many community projects over the past twenty years. He suggests that I should be aware of the merits of using a not-for-profit limited company to own and control the community radio station.

I am, of course, fully aware of this legal structure and it has no such merits. It is entirely unsuitable for a community broadcasting outlet, especially when two of it’s directors are sitting town councillors.

The reason is simple: a limited company is a private entity and is subject to no public oversight. As of last week, one of it’s directors is now Mayor of Bradford on Avon. In this capacity he will meet a wide range of individuals, groups and community projects. The opportunities for bias and for the perception of a conflict of interest are obvious. Surely my fellow councillors can see that my concerns are legitimate?

Dom seeks to reassure your readers by claiming that the (internet-based) radio station will be licensed with Ofcom and regulated by it in the near future.

This is totally untrue. In evidence, may I quote Cllr Simon McNeill Ritchie, one of the proposed directors, who has put the following statement, in writing, on public record: “Ofcom has no interest or control over internet radio stations.

“It regulates radio broadcasts using DAB and FM technology, neither of which is available in this area, and is unlikely to be so for the foreseeable future.”

I trust that Dom will apologise to your readers for inadvertently misleading them.

Dom’s next claim is that the proposal involves no financial outlay from the town council. This is, at best, a half-truth.

The empty room to be used is in the youth centre. The youth group which the radio station will engage with there is professionally supervised by youth workers from Community Family Care.

They are funded by the town council and by Wiltshire Council’s local youth network, which I happen to chair.

It is an expensive investment which I fully support, provided it is used publicly and transparently. The current proposal does not deliver this.

We now come to the final paragraph of Dom’s letter, one which I find personally offensive. In it, Dom clearly infers that my objections are based on party politics, and accuses me, amongst others, of “attacking their peers representing the town.”

This is a gross untruth. My views, right or wrong, are my own. To be honest, I’ve had enough of Ideal Bradford councillors being portrayed as free-thinking, progressive individuals, with the rest of us stereotyped as mere party hacks. So let me set the record straight:

Ideal Bradford is a registered political party and is listed as such on the Electoral Commission’s website.

It campaigns as a political party and it governs as one. As a consequence, three of it’s own councillors have resigned from the Ideal Bradford party. Two of them now sit as independents and the third has resigned from the town council. That is why we’re having a town council by-election. So yes; it does involve party politics, but not my party and not my politics.

Having got that off my chest I will end with an open challenge to Dom and his colleagues. Scrap the proposed company limited by guarantee. Form a community partnership with an independent chair and a truly representative working group, including our young people.

If the project is successful you can move on to form either a community cooperative or a community interest company. If you do that I promise my full, public and enthusiastic support. It is no less than this project requires and indeed, deserves.

Jim Lynch, Town councillor, Bradford on Avon

Collection thanks

Thank you very much to all those people who gave so generously to the Save the Children House to House Collection held in Trowbridge during the week commencing 28th April.

The total amount raised was £563.00 which will help to improve the lives of children in the U.K. and throughout the World. Many thanks also to the Collectors who gave their time to achieve such a good result.

Marilyn Marshall, Treasurer, Save the Children Trowbridge and District

Need for change

Well done to the Wiltshire Times for their FOI request to Wiltshire Police which came back with shocking yet not surprising figures summarised by saying half of all Wiltshire knife crimes happened in Trowbridge.

My home town, that when I mention in a previous edition of our local paper, senior members of the Wiltshire Council were upset by. Ten-year-olds being arrested? Practically all released under investigation, or as the criminals call it “released to pursue their crimes” and the police no where to be seen!

Could we request a further FOI request? How much police time is spent sat at desks investigating cyber crime. Not major cyber crime, just “she called me this, he called me that.”

I know for a fact officers are leaving as fast as joining and many for what they, to coin a phrase, have to deal with “Jeremy Kyle” clientele - not real, public affecting criminals.

Two years now and two police funding rises, yet not a single officer seen by me in Trowbridge the whole of last week.

There is a political sea change happening at government level. Beware it doesn’t swamp Wiltshire Council for their lack of enforcement of police activities.

Mark Griffiths, Pavely Gardens, Trowbridge

An open letter

To Claire Perry, the MP for Devizes, and much of Salisbury Plain where many of our soldiers work I cannot understand why you have not spoken out against the action of the Government

Action being taken against a number of army pensioners who served their country in difficult times in Northern Ireland is unacceptable to the vast majority of the public. Over 300 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers lost their lives in the conflict with the IRA, as well as many serving army personnel.

This country was at war with the IRA ,which bombed London, killed and maimed hundreds of people on the main land.

This action to prosecute, or even consider prosecuting old men in their last days, some for actions they took in protecting their colleagues and the public 50 years ago is not in the public interest.

I would ask that you stand up for your constituents both serving and retired, and I am sure you know that there are many retired servicemen living on your patch. If you stay silent many in your constituency including myself will concur that you are in support of these prosecutions.

I do not expect you to go as far as Jonny Mercer MP, but you need to speak out now and apply some pressure to stop this witch hunt.

IAN JAMES, Woodborough, Wiltshire

SEN ignorance

WILTSHIRE Council is voting on May 22 on their proposals to close two popular local special schools - Larkrise in Trowbridge and St Nicholas in Chippenham.

Shockingly, they appear to have completely ignored the issue of how this will impact the economies of these two towns.

Their plans make no mention of job losses or the effect on businesses who supply these schools. They do however estimate that there will be benefits to Devizes and Rowde. I have just asked town councillors if they know what the projected financial implications are - and they don’t have a clue.

So if you are one of the many enterprises associated with these two fine schools, you might like to email councillor Laura Mayes (laura.mayes@wiltshire.gov.uk), with your concerns. Ask her how YOU will be affected. Because Wiltshire Council doesn’t seem to realise that a school is more than a place for educating children, it is a contributor to the financial health and well being of the community.

NICOLA GROVE, Horningsham, Wiltshire

Garden Gathering

WHATEVER the weather and wherever you are, why not gather with friends and family this summer and help raise vital funds that will help cure and support everyone affected by Parkinson’s.

By holding your own Garden Gathering, you’ll be raising money that could help end Parkinson’s forever. My mum was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2010 and it’s hugely debilitating. Please visit: parkinsons.org.uk/gardengathering

SIAN LLOYD, TV Broadcaster and Parkinson’s UK supporter