Please listen to my tale, you may recognise it.

Once upon a time there was a small country town in the South of Gloucestershire, near Bristol.

It was a market town and was admired for its pretty rural setting and quiet surroundings.

One day it was decided by the big developers that it would be a good place to build hundreds and hundreds of jam-packed houses for commuters, on greenfield sites.

They found clever ways to build more and more houses until eventually their barely-planned new town was bigger than any of the old suburbs of Bristol and continued to grow.

The roads became crowded with heavy goods traffic roaring through the villages all day and night and commuter gridlock.

There was no provision for services because the development wasn’t planned. The developers didn’t care, they made their money and left.

The people who lived in the area looked on in despair. No-one listened to them. They were disregarded and lied to. Not every story has a happy ending!

Where am I talking about? Thornbury? No, I am looking at the story of Chipping Sodbury and Yate.

Have any lessons been learned ? Has any wisdom been gained? Clearly not, because the same pattern is being repeated in Thornbury.

Can we do anything about it? I really do hope so!

Support TRAPPD (Thornbury Residents Against Poorly Planned Development) and write to Luke Hall M.P.

David Wicks, Cromhall