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

Not a good move

FOR quite a few years I have been buying train tickets at the Tourist Information Centre in Trowbridge Civic Hall. A more friendly and helpful service would be hard to find, they would plan any journey and get the best deals and with comfortable armchairs to wait in if the need arose.

Far better than queuing up at the train station talking through a glass panel with a queue of impatient travellers muttering and complaining if you took some time to sort out travel arrangements.

But this service at the T.I.C. is no longer available. The staff informed me that the machine to process the tickets had malfunctioned beyond economical repair and a new system would cost around £3,000.

The holders of the purse strings will not fund a new one, taking the attitude that it is not cost-effective and makes no money and a lot of people use the internet to buy tickets now.

A council of a dying town should encourage all the footfall they can. I thought Trowbridge Town Council was funded by the people of Trowbridge for the benefit of the people of Trowbridge not a profit-making organisation. A fact borne out by the amount of debt we are in.

£3,000 is not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. But is it just £3,000 saved or is it a low paid member of staff’s job going as well.

Perhaps it is to go towards the state of the art staff toilets in the park.

Or is it to pay for yet another sports coach or another community play worker or another new Active Trowbridge Transit van.

Jim Day, Whiterow Park, Trowbridge

Support council

MAY I as someone with a financial background point out to Councillor Edward Kirk that there is nothing unusual about raising capital to acquire a new asset or improve an existing asset and then financing this expenditure by repayment over a lengthy period of time. This is routinely done by both companies and local authorities and any individual who has bought a house by mortgage will be familiar with this principle and also know that at the end of the term they will continue to have the benefit of the asset without making any more repayments. This is in no way comparable to an Attachment of Earnings Order which is applied by a Court for very different reasons.

Regarding the decision making process for local authorities once a decision has been made all Councillors are bound by it and should support it at least in public. It makes the work of the permanent staff who are tasked with the implementation of decisions very difficult if every time a decision is made an individual Councillor who opposed it seeks to undermine or overturn it by seeking a non- existent appeal to central government or by abusing the planning process.

The published accounts of Trowbridge Town Council show the authority manages its finances prudently, is keen to acquire or develop its assets for the benefit of the community and has a pragmatic approach to devolution of services by Wiltshire Council. Consequently I support the Town Council in providing and improving its portfolio of services in challenging times and would like to think that all elected Councillors will do the same.

C.N.A Williams, Clipsham Rise, Trowbridge

Jobs not traffic

THE issue of traffic through Bradford on Avon has, not surprisingly, provoked a reaction from people.

Looking at the letters you published recently, Mr Burnham seems quite happy to ‘solve’ the problem by pushing yet more traffic onto the villages of Staverton and Hilperton. What makes him think that the residents of those villages want extra vehicles to spare Bradford on Avon from traffic?

However, Mr Feather raises more pertinent points – where do the residents of the Trowbridge/Bradford on Avon area actually work? I raised this issue at a meeting with two senior WC spatial planners recently – what this area needs is more employment, not just more housing. As Mr Feather states, allocated employment sites do not progress and inevitably end up as housing.

If anyone knows what Wiltshire Council can do to attract major employers to this area, do let them know! Currently, we have a problem that is recognised but no one seems able to find a solution.

Ernie Clark, Wiltshire Councillor for Hilperton Division, Independent Group leader, Wiltshire Council