MEANINGLESS words said with an air of authority and nothing to back it up.

At no point in recent local history where things have been taken away and political verbal assurances given have these things actually happened. Think youth services, police station custody suite, bus station, Post office. Wiltshire Council invested in new out of town community hub at the leisure centre to then drop the hub idea while the real need for investment lies in the city centre. All the time Conservative focus is locked on the Maltings development the rest of the city is being forgotten. There is much that could be enhanced within the city, the main drive should be to encourage employers to want to move into the city centre.

Both the writings of John Glen MP and his chief of staff Cllr Dr Mark McClelland over the last two weeks shamefully blur the facts in the name of recovery and progress with the mantra of embracing change and investment by overlooking Salisbury library users concerns that specialist services currently provided at the library will cease to be provided at least for several years to come.

McClelland takes things a step further by deriding Salisbury City Council planning committee’s objection comments to the planning application. Those objections had nothing to do with a proposed library, gym, hotel. The city council objections relate to the scale and mass of the application and its negative impact on neighbouring listed buildings and street scene in a conservation area. I for one welcome investment, but I will always fight for quality investment in our city that enhances our street scene and protects our heritage.

As and when the next iteration of the Maltings master plan comes to fruition, I very much hope that Glen and McClelland keep their warm words distant and allow those of us who genuinely care about leaving a better city for future generations to make comment.

Cllr Tom Corbin

Labour councillor, Bemerton ward