The traditional idea of a small market town in the UK is of a physically separate settlement supporting a variety of functions and providing a range of services. Over time the functions and services available have changed, and more importantly perhaps the size of settlement below which these become uneconomic has also changed.

This gives rise to a specific set of problems that are not well recognised by central government where policy is largely dictated by a view of the world formed in the Westminster bubble and mediated by concerns for party and ideology that are  not always reflected in the real world outside the bubble..

This blog will attempt to take a real world, pragmatic view of small town life, in particular the town of Devizes in Wiltshire. So far as it has any ‘position’ it is simply a belief that waiting for external intervention will often lead to much worse outcomes than local action towards apparently lesser targets.

At the moment the blog is personal but I would be delighted to receive contributions from others for occasional or regular posts. The blog is linked to a Facebook group also called Devizes Futures.