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The clergy are appalled by the actions of Swindon Borough Council — especially since we set up our stall to feed the homeless and support the very people this town is neglecting.

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I am writing to express my absolute disgust with Swindon Borough Council and the appalling way the situation at the Swindon Retail Market has been handled. At a time when our town is already dying on its feet, your incompetence, silence, and sheer disregard for the very traders who have kept the town centre alive is beyond unacceptable.


You allowed an unaffiliated catering operator to set up without a single word of consultation— not with the traders, not with Cotswold Markets, not with the people who show up every week and give this town centre what little vitality it has left. The result? Long-standing traders, many who have poured years of work and money into their pitches, have been shoved aside during one of the most crucial trading periods of the entire year.


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And for what? A decision you can’t justify, defend, or even bother responding to.

Cotswold Markets raised concerns, set deadlines, and gave you every opportunity to put this right. You still allowed an entire week to pass without a response—fully aware that livelihoods, community presence, and one of the last cultural assets of our fading town centre were on the line.


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Your public statement claiming you are “continuing to work with both parties” is an insult when your lack of action is exactly what pushed Cotswold Markets out. If the intention was to hollow out the market and strip away the traders who actually bring footfall into Swindon, then congratulations—you’ve done exactly that.

This is not “accommodation.”This is not “support for shoppers.”This is negligence—plain and simple.


Swindon deserves better. The traders deserved better. And the market—one of the very last reasons many people bother coming into the town centre—deserved far better than to be treated as an inconvenience you can casually dispose of.

You need to take responsibility, repair the damage you’ve caused, and stop hiding behind vague, meaningless statements while the market collapses because of your failures.


Father Paris Haines


 
 
 
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