Sir.- After months of pondering and deliberation, I have finally come to the conclusion that Basingstoke is fast approaching the moment when it implodes in on itself like a collapsing star.

Why do I come to this conclusion? Well, there are several reasons.

First and foremost is the current level of traffic which seems to grow by the day. This evening it has taken me longer to get from Popley to Black Dam than it did to get from Bracknell to Basingstoke.

Every single day a journey across the town has to be planned with military-like precision. The roadworks which have reduced the Black Dam roundabout into a traffic clogged aberration from what seems like the Dawn of Time still look a million light years away from reaching completion, and coupled with the plethora of other assorted digs dotted around Basingstoke which have been planned with Neolithic incompetence mean that crossing town would be quicker on tortoise-back.

Secondly, everywhere I look there is construction going on.

The once beautiful landscape of this place which I loved as a boy is rapidly disappearing whilst empty warehouses and buildings remain empty.

When is someone in authority going to wake up and realise that we just cannot keep trying to expand at the current rate?

You cannot keep building and building and building.

-Dean Carpenter, Gainsborough Road, Black Dam.