It seems that the residents deserve this land after spending years raising money for it.

In a society where "community" seems to rarely exist, to hear of a community which works together to fulfil the wishes of their residents should be valued and their hard work repaid in the purchase of the land.

To then read that a local councillor outbid the residents seems in my opinion, underhand.

Councillor Choudary states he wishes to work with the NN2 residents, yet is seemingly working against them by purchasing the land in the first place!

Is it any wonder people grow apathetic towards local politics when a figure who should be representing people generally appears to be doing exactly the opposite.

I hope Councillor Choudary remembers who he is supposed to be representing in his role as a councillor and considers that politics should not be about representing yourself.

Councillor Choudary should, in my opinion, do the honourable thing and sell back the land to the residents who truly deserve it.
Miss E J O'Beirne,
Portland Place, Northampton.

Why do they want meadows?
The time has now come when Councillor Choudary should start to tell us as to what it is intended Kingsthorpe Meadows will be used for and to stop chanting his mantra "I want this land for the whole of the town".

There are many who are concerned that it will be built on.

If that is not the case then it is not to the benefit of the people . . . and not just the people who live nearby.

Building on this land will create flooding further down river in Semilong and St James.

When the flood protection was introduced, they did not envisage anyone being daft enough to build on what is essentially a flood relief, that is what a flood plain is.
Doug Buckle,
Kentstone Close, Northampton.

He should not have bid for it
The ongoing saga with Councillor Choudary rumbles on.
Councillor Choudary was adamant that he bought this land on behalf of a business colleague. So it is not his to decide what to do with it.

He said he wanted the whole of Northampton to benefit from the land but now he, not the owner, has said that he has changed his mind.

Is it Mr Choudary's land or the person he bought it for?

As a councillor should he have even bid for the property without giving the details of the person he was supposed to be acting? Who exactly has bought the land?

He knew that NN2 residents had been raising funds to buy this land over the last three years and he never said he would be interested but suddenly, he outbid the NN2 residents.
Mike Papworth,
Ruskin Road, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.

List of failings
It must have been a total relief before developing a hernia for Councillor John McGhee, leader of the opposition, to unload through the columns of the Chronicle & Echo of September 18 the heavy parcel of perceived failings by the current administration.

Perhaps his next letter will adopt a more positive slant by identifying how he will right all these considered wrongs if given the chance and the method of financing the same.

It was, after all, the electorate who chose to out his party after years of total inadequacy.
Mr J J Webb,
Whitegates,
West Hunsbury,
Northampton.

Ideal location
A Channel 4 drama about the Battle of Naseby has been filmed in South Africa because, according to the producers, the Northamptonshire countryside is "not English enough". I can't agree.

Many of the roads around here don't seem to have been resurfaced since 1645, so this area would seem an ideal location for filming.
John Haynes,
High Street, Welford.

Digester plant in the wrong place
You asked (September 17) whether the anaerobic digester plant should be located at Chelveston.

The answer clearly is: "No."

There are two formal reasons for this. The Government's planning guidelines (PPS 22) require that such plants are placed as close to feedstock sources as possible; and as close as possible to major transport hubs.

The Chelveston application fulfilled neither criteria and the planning officials involved should have made this abundantly clear.

There were also questions from councillors as to why placing another anaerobic digester so close to the one already approved by Knotting West Wood (right by one of the most dangerous stretches of the A6) was a problem.

One despairs about the quality and commonsense of those involved.

The main source of the feedstocks will be from between a triangle formed by Northampton, Corby and Rushden.

Any anaerobic digesters (and I support the need for these in principle) should be placed within that triangle, not miles outside it along a B category road, and involving passage of HGVs along country lanes.

I write as a former council member of the Town and Country Planning Association.
Professor Michael Jefferson,
Melchbourne, Bedfordshire.

Put some pride back into town
When will the people of Northampton realise that the only interest our local heroes on the council (no matter what shade of politics) have in the market is their aim to close it down by hook or by crook?

They will simply make the charges so high that it would no longer be commercially viable for traders to support the market.

When will councillors learn that it is not what they want, but what the people of Northampton want?

Our once beautiful town centre with the old fountain and the former Emporium Arcade (now known as Urine Alley), and not forgetting Notre Dame, have all been ransacked by previous councils through the years.

We do not need a marina costing millions.

Let's spend the money on improving and cleaning up what we already have and try to put a little of the lost pride back into Northampton.
John Atkins,
Husband of a long-time market trader, Hinton Road, Kingsthorpe, Northampton.