Having lived in Frome for 44 years, well, the old place does grow on you.

I thought for this exercise I would look at the town from the perspective of an outsider. So what as Frome got to offer for the future? Like hundreds of small market towns dotted around these islands, it’s got a little Anglo Saxon history, and within geographical variants, a grade one listed building, and some grade twos.

The usual religious structures, the mix of cobbled streets old and new, and the river the town was named after winding through it.

However, in the 21st century it would seem to be suffering like the majority of market towns within this Sceptred Isle, from councils who, with their planners, think bland ugly three-storey town houses, and ex-RAF hangers now called supermarkets is the future. (Sorry, in Frome’s case add a little Milton Keynes concrete.)

For road transport, it’s not close to any main motorway like, say, Bridgwater is. Its rail links have not been improved apart from a lick of paint on the railway station since Doctor Beeching chopped up the railways in the 1960s. On the bus service, two buses an hour run to the nearest city of Bath, unfortunately in this case together. (Please don’t ask why, I think it’s something to do with the search for the God Particle.) So what has Frome got to offer the future entrepreneur?

Certainly not its council who think building more houses and supermarkets is the answer. The truth is Frome has nothing to offer, other than its people, and that is the key. If we can offer businesses a young skill base, where they are not afraid to get their hands dirty and make things, then this town will have a future. If not it will become just an overspill for Bath, Bristol and even London, with a large part of the increased population being benefit claimants because of a lack of jobs within the area.

So what is the answer? Let me give you this little known fact: 91 per cent of all apprentices get a job. How many academies, community colleges or universities can say that of its pupils when they leave? So let’s build an Engineering and Craft College on the Saxonvale site and give this town a future. Show the world the people of Frome have the skills to make things.

Not hang around the streets with their cell phones, wondering how they are going to pay the bills, doing a part-time job shelf filling. Of course you can ignore me I’m retired, and some would say ready for recycling.

Nevertheless the future of this and all the towns in the UK is in the hands of the young, so let’s give them a fighting chance. Come on David Heath MP, your Government keeps blabbering on about apprenticeships, here in Frome is your chance to prove it.

I’m sure in all the Quantitative Easing £50 billion you gave to the banks there might be some cash to help the young of Frome.

DAVID LOWDER Meadow Road Frome