ON Saturday September 30 it was my duty to welcome councillors of the Cabinet of West Wiltshire District Council, including leader Cllr Sarah Content, to the Rachel Fowler Centre in Melksham where they were to hold an open forum to enable members of the public to meet and discuss topics of local interest to them.

As a result of my inquiring why their scheduled visit had not been more widely publicised, I was informed that your newspaper was duly notified and requested to publish this information, but somehow failed to do so.

It is sad to reflect that whilst other items of dubious content are often given much space, a short insert that would have been to the benefit of the community here, as well as the councillors, was omitted.

R JEFFERIES Chairman, RFC, Melksham

  • We do our best to publicise as many events as we can but sometimes space and deadlines dictate otherwise. Editor

MEMBERS of the Hillside Action Group in Bradford on Avon, who are campaigning to save the Conigre Hill car park from having two affordable homes built on it, were dismayed to discover that they had missed Cllr Sarah Content's drop-in session in the town, presumably on Saturday September 30, giving residents the opportunity to voice their views and concerns. I refer to Cllr Content's letter in the Wiltshire Times last week.

As far as I am aware no members of HAG knew that this drop-in session was to take place and had we known then it is possible that up to 100 residents who live on the Tory hillside would have attended the session in order to voice their concerns about the possible loss of the Conigre Hill car park site.

How was the drop-in session publicised? It would have been helpful had Cllr Content telephoned or emailed our co-chair, Brenda Samuel, to alert her to this session, particularly as two invitations had been extended to her to meet with our group, the last of these on August 15. No response has been received to either invitation.

It would be encouraging to learn, via the Letters page of this paper, that those councillors who represent Bradford on Avon on WWDC sympathise with our concerns and that they positively support us in our endeavours to preserve the Conigre Hill car park for the use of the hillside residents and the worshippers at the chapel.

V BURCHELL, Bradford on Avon