DISAPPOINTMENT was the order of my day on Monday.

First, I hung around Dorset till teatime, hoping to see a Red Arrows display over Lyme Regis, only for it to be cancelled.

The reason? Sea fog. Frustrating, but no-one could help it.

Whereas the letdown that loomed when I got back home was entirely avoidable.

Though I try to steer clear of party politics, it was wholly attributable to the Conservatives on the city council.

And unlike the Arrows, they could see exactly what they were doing.

It was writ large on the dismayed faces of the Laverstock and Ford residents who had come seeking their help.

It may not have helped the residents that their spokesman, Wiltshire councillor Ian McLennan, is a Labour man. He explained that they wanted the city planning committee to reconsider its support for the redevelopment of Old Sarum airfield with 470 houses.

Whereas the developers had treated the committee to a glossy presentation, the residents hadn’t been able to put their point of view.

Why? Because they’d had no idea the meeting was taking place.

Yet on this crucial issue, the preservation of one of our historic treasures, the Tories voted en bloc not to offer them a second chance. Maybe they thought they would take advantage of there being two absentees from the other parties’ ranks.

Or maybe they were being loyal to the committee’s Tory chairman? We’ll never know.

But councillor Penny Brown informed the protesters that it was their own fault.

Even though their parish is not part of the city, and the city council does not represent them, she told them they should have been checking its website, on the off-chance that the subject might come up. Of course they should. Silly them! Right now I ought to be checking the websites of every parish council for miles around in case they’re pontificating on the future of the Britford water meadows.

Since the city council wants to gobble up Laverstock and Ford under a boundary review, it might have done well to show more sensitivity.

And whilst on the airfield issue, wouldn’t it be valuable to ask the pilots what they make of it all? I’ve spoken to a couple in confidence. They don’t like the scheme but think it’s inevitable.

One told me that developing the western end would soon lead to complaints from residents about aircraft noise, while the three-storey houses proposed could cause turbulence for fliers. And realigning the runway would take planes directly over houses in Castle Road.

Might that inspire a rethink at the Guildhall?

anneriddle36@gmail.com