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

River ‘disgusting’

IT WAS nice to see the paddle boarders with their dogs on the River Avon at Bradford on Avon which was on TV Points West recently, but I doubt if they would get as far as the Town Bridge, as the reeds are almost reaching from one side to the other, it’s disgusting.

When I worked in the Avon many years ago, a dredger would clear the river.

I would love, one fine day, to see it cleared.

Mrs Nina Wadham, Priory Close, Bradford on Avon

Go on, Boris!

Ref Andrew Milroy’s Letter of August 16: what a load of tosh, where do you get 50% of people are stockpiling?

Are you listening to the BBC or the Labour party? We voted to leave and leave we will. Mrs May was a waste of time, now we have someone that stirs things up. Get on with it Boris, stand your ground, they will give in and sort it out.

I went around 60 different houses and none of them said they were stockpiling.

You have never known anything different, I do. We had deals with most countries in the world until we went into the EU and I will remind you that they never wanted us to start with, all they want now is our money.

R Hockwood, Queensway, Melksham

Help our disabled

I MUST reply to Mark Griffiths regarding free parking for disabled drivers.

Mark says that the disabled are not poor and can afford to pay. Where have you been for the last four years Mark. This Conservative government have been making cruel cuts to benefits for the sick and disabled, so much so that some have taken their own lives.

Terry Chivers, Eden Gove, Whitley

I did it my way

THE front page headlines and the report of the council meeting in the Wiltshire Times recently about the proposed trial for a one-way traffic system requested by Cllr Roberts brought to mind two of my letters published in the Wiltshire Times.

The first, dated 30/7/10, yes nine years ago and headed Traffic solutions followed by another titled traffic still crawling on 6/1/17.

In a report of a council meeting on 31/8/18 this time headed One Way System Not Needed Cllr Roberts was asked by the leader of the council to produce evidence that he had the support of our local MP and also the leader of Wiltshire Council. The same meeting ended with the council statement ‘There are currently no plans to conduct a physical trial’.

Poor Cllr Roberts, who would surely have gained the support of many townsfolk, shot down in flames again. My heart sank on reading that Wiltshire Council were to be asked to run computer simulations before such a trial should commence.

I would not trust any council who can introduce a 30mph speed limit from Station Approach/Frome Road for traffic through the town centre who have travelled at 20mph further out of town.

No, ask Cllr Roberts, town businessmen, local traders and residents for their opinion.

I, for example, watch the flow of traffic at 8.30am every morning and have noticed a marked improvement since the removal of the yellow boxes by the Swan Hotel.

It would be even better if the drivers realised there is ample room to pass each other. Perhaps the council highways dept should put a broken white line up the middle until a decision is reached on the one way system

Gareth Jones, Abbey Mill, Church Street, Bradford on Avon

No to no deal

One Tory MP has declared forcibly, “There is no mandate, and never has been a mandate for a no-deal Brexit”.

This view is supported by the latest opinion polls showing just 34% of voters wanted an October no-deal if no agreement was possible. Those in favour of Remain had a 10% lead over those favouring Leave. The Remain majority even included 2% of the Brexit Party!

Yet Boris Johnson still thinks a no deal Brexit is a good idea. Allocating £100 million to persuade the 66% of Britons opposed to a no-deal when such a huge sum could put more police on the streets, more doctors and nurses in hospitals and repair some schools is, at best, irresponsible.

Boris Johnson is not known for being truthful. Even the Brexit Party has declared, “While we have a government led by someone nobody has ever trusted in his entire career, why should we trust the Tories? Why should anyone in the country trust the Tories?”

Many lack confidence in him as a leader in the current crisis.

Even Johnson himself wrote about the EU in 2016 before the referendum, “This is a market on our doorstep, ready for exploitation by British firms. The membership fee seems rather small for all that access. Why are we so determined to turn our back on it?”

There was no mention of a no deal scenario in the 2016 referendum; there is no mandate for such a strategy! Unlike the U.K, the EU has been preparing for such a scenario since December 2017. The half a billion population of the EU will cope far better with its impact than Britain, one tenth of its size.

Proroguing Parliament to push though a no deal shows just how weak Boris Johnson is. He cannot command a majority in the Commons, 65 million Britons had no say in his election as prime minister. He and his cronies have to scurry around behind close doors. It will not end well.

Andrew Milroy, Bellefield Crescent, Trowbridge

Protest not dead

I DON’T know when the last political demonstration in Chippenham town centre was – possibly not even during the protests against the poll tax in the 1980s. But there was a “stop the coup” protest there on Saturday.

That shows how angry local people are about the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament when there are only two months to go before the date when the UK is currently scheduled to leave the EU.

While I hear the arguments about the need to start a new parliamentary session and allowing a new legislative programme to start, such a prorogation could easily have coincided with the recess already planned.

It is transparent, as the new Secretary of State for Defence admitted on camera at the end of August, that this prorogation is simply to avoid scrutiny and debate. Is pursuing a no deal Brexit really worth sacrificing our democracy and conventions for? How is this “taking back control”?

Helen Belcher, Lib Dem Prospective MP for Chippenham, Pound Mead, Corsham

Thanks shoppers

I WOULD like to thank the people of Chippenham for raising £73.22 during my street collection on Saturday in aid of Brooke (Action for Working Horses and Donkeys), helping to improve the quality of life of working animals in some of the world’s poorest communities.

Roger G Challoner Green, Church Lane, Wingfield, Trowbridge