WE brought the news to you that a project to create a bridge linking Chippenham Station and the town centre is in line to receive £3 million of backing, if it can win support from the town within the next few months.

Wiltshire Council put forward the proposal to Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership at the end of September and received backing from its board.

Government funding is only available until March, 2021. Although £3 million is available, the plan’s backers would have to move quickly to get planning permission and show support from the town.

Here are some of your thoughts from Facebook:

Cam Blake: Nice idea, but I’d rather they saved and developed the old college and Westmead School.

Diana Hills: Would it be better to spend the money on the canal now on maintenance. Its overgrown everywhere and doesn’t look appealing. Please save what we have instead of keep building. I hate looking at the wharf when so much is overgrown otherwise good idea for our future.

Harriet Jany: I was kind of hoping for a nice traditional Cotswold stone bridge and a couple of boat restaurants or something pretty to get people sat enjoying watching the swans by the river side. Maybe some pedalos in summer you can hire.

Michael Hudston: What a surprise, it’s all about Chippenham again. Do Wiltshire Council not realise there are other towns and villages in the county that would live this kind of investment. But then they don’t have Council Offices in them.

Shaun Wilkins: How about spending 3 million making what we have better.

Colin Just: Whose this £3 million coming from ,is the local council putting up our council tax again. fix the roads ,and do something with the old bridge centre, don’t see no ticket machine there to park.

David Choonage: What a waste of money, there’s already a footbridge over the river, why do you need another? Pretty sure there’s better ways to spend 3 million.

Andrew Trudgian: What’s to come after the 3 million spent on a bridge I’d like to know.

John Randall: Better use for money.

Julie Armstrong: It will never happen all talk.

LENGTHY waits at Swindon A and E prompts questions over GWH expansion. Patients are waiting up to 24 hours to be moved from Great Western Hospital’s emergency department to the wards.

It has raised questions about whether GWH is big enough to cope with demand. Hospital chiefs have long complained that they need more beds.

Fran Phillips: If people only went to A and E for genuine emergencies it would be fine. I’ve known someone to go in because they had a headache or waste an ambulance because they were a little bit hot.

Danielle Herring: I expect a fair few of those who visited A and E though could have gone to an out of hours service, GP or even could have managed it at home. So many people visit A and E unnecessarily.

Jane L Stringer: Due to long term health conditions I am a frequent visitor and the staff do a fantastic job but the hospital needs more utilities to cope, personally I wouldn’t go to any other hospital but waiting times are pushed up by drunken fights etc that end up causing unnecessary clog ups, it’s a sad world we live in .

Trev Marsden: Possibly the worst hospital I have ever had to deal with. Left on a trolley for hours, people pushing past all the time and completely ignored by staff for very long periods of time.

CLIMATE change protesters brought Extinction Rebellion’s protest into Chippenham to raise awareness of the campaign.

Members set up a stall on The Bridge and engaged shoppers in conversation about the threat of climate change and the group’s on-going campaign.

Michael Hudston: Well, glad they set up a stall and tried to educate, rather than disrupt the lives of hard working people, like their friends in London and Bristol.

James Stevens: The levels of ignorance are sometimes quite astonishing. Well done to people taking time to try and educate people, so they may realise just how important the London protests are.

Mike Platt: Ridiculous in the main although there are some well meaning people amongst the extremists.

Gail Foster: This was a quiet action that involved giving out leaflets and answering questions. It was a low key event in contrast to the more dramatic events in London.