I NOTE Phil North’s dismay at the proposed closure of the town’s Marks and Spencer store, and in particular how he feels (on his Facebook page) that there should be consultation before the decision is finalised.

Clearly irony, amongst other things, is not his strong point. How does he think the people of Andover feel about the council announcing the closure and proposed demolition of the George Yard public toilets, without consulting us?

If M&S do close it will be because of lack of footfall.

It doesn’t matter how much the population of the town is growing if those new residents choose to go to Basingstoke, Salisbury, Winchester or Newbury to do their shopping, because there is nothing but coffee, phone and charity shops in Andover.

The stark truth here is that Phil North and his predecessor, Ian Carr, and their cronies have presided over the town for years and years and have watched impotently as it has spiralled ever deeper into decline. The M&S closure, if it happens, will be just the latest nail in the town’s coffin; nails which have been hammered home by our councillors’ ineptitude.

He is clearly way out of his depth when it comes to being able to do anything to help the town. He wanted the leader’s job so badly, and now he has it he has no idea what to do with it. What a joke!

What Andover needs is shops; shops that sell things that the people who current go to all those other towns and cities buy. What does Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) give us? A Riverside project and cultural quarter; mere sticking plasters on the gaping wound that is Andover town centre. As the Romans said, ‘bread and circuses’.

Mike Reeves, Old Winton Road, Andover.