Sir – The Mayor, StJohn Dickson, as reported in the Herald, February 5, page 7, has given a wonky explanation of the Wallingford Street wall plans having to go back to the drawing board.

Whilst I applaud his attempts to bring the whole matter forward after two years, I cannot support his bald statement that “residents didn’t want the view from their gardens spoilt”, balancing this with “the greater good of the town would have been to get the pavement open.”

It was not a question of “views” at all, but of the misappropriation of private property. The strategic director’s plan, of November 30, 2015, showed that land owned by residents would have been taken from them. It was, therefore, necessary for the site to be properly surveyed before proceeding further.

Mr Dickson makes no mention of this, the real reason for the delay, preferring to play the “blame game”, and thus exonerating those who had failed to determine the boundary of the property in question.

Mrs M L Lee
Haywards Close
Wantage