A Proposal! There seems to be a vast amount of hot air being expended over this issue and I'd like to believe it represents a genuine rather than hypothetical intention on the part of people to see a better Wimborne in the future. If that's the case then let's bury the hatchet and start to look at how we can put all this energy to good use. The centre of the town has some beautiful aspects to it but it also has some eyesores - - surely no one is saying that the existing development on Crown Mead is attractive?! Yes we have a conservation area and a site of particular importance in terms of its wildlife. Yes this is all very emotive, but surely we have to be realistic. In the present economic environment there is no likelihood of development in this or any town on purely altruistic grounds, how ever desirable it might be. We’ve got to recognise that a better future, whether we like it or not, depends upon balancing the economic, social and environmental advantages of change and that means partnership between the community, the environmental lobby and those who still have the capacity to fund the process, that is big business.

We have a superb opportunity to gain out of the present situation. The two most socially minded supermarket chains in the country, the Coop and Waitrose both clearly keen to work with the town and both putting money into making it possible. We’ve got a community with spirit second to none in my experience and we have a town and landscape out outstanding beauty. That looks to me like set of advantages most towns would give their eye teeth for! My proposal is that we work together. If we can translate even a fraction of the passion expressed in this forum into practical outcomes we have wonderful chance to make Wimborne not only fit for the future but more deeply rooted in its past and its landscape – something I believe we all want to see. Let’s do it!