TESTING times are upon us in more ways than one.

Yet I cannot understand the lack of civic pride in our city, especially concerning the Poultry Cross one of the city’s most important links with medieval Salisbury and the ambivalence given to the new gift of a sculpture to Salisbury, Turning Point.

Other significant objects such as the urn marking the site of the Saxon finds and the medieval porch located in Bourne Hill House gardens are left uncared for and show signs of serious deterioration!

Yet nothing is done to put things right. Similar issues involving Wiltshire Council involve replacing decent vintage street lighting with incongruous modern lighting no doubt costing thousands of pounds.

Completely unnecessary in these financially challenging times. There may be good reason - but why introduce yet another dominant style of lighting into the Market Square?!

Of some frustration are the lights set into the granite blocks marking the diagonal path across the sq.

These up lights it appears were never ‘commissioned’ and subsequently disconnected. Yet another half-baked cookie! Yet why were they allowed to not function.

The Arts Centre lights continue to work after several years what is the problem with the square’s lights?

A friend a couple of weeks ago mentioned to me out of the blue how run down Salisbury was looking.

This is not a new comment of course, but the Poultry Cross is looking awful and the council should act to make such an important object and site more pleasant especially given the scale and timescale of restorations and conservations.

Action is needed and more civic pride. Peter Riley Wyndham Road, Salisbury