SADLY, it was obvious from Cllr McInnes' letter (June 10) that he had little regard for councillors who have put forward the concerns — re the core strategy — of the residents of Okehampton and Tavistock, and I for one resent being accused of seeking five minutes of popularity.
We were elected to represent them, and they have made it abundantly clear that they do not want any more houses foisted upon our towns.
Cllr McInnes says he welcomes the new government axing of the regional housing targets, and their decision to base housing numbers on local needs.
So does this not give us the opportunity to bring back to full council the whole unhappy saga of the large housing development in Okehampton and Tavistock, for a full and frank discussion on how we as a council can adopt the new policies that his government want?
Before being elected to parliament Mel Stride fought the proposed development for several years and a few days before the election he distributed leaflets, 'Over-development in Okehampton' in which he clearly stated that he pledged to continue to 'fight and take these challenges to the inspector'. So was Cllr McInnes suggesting that he too was 'making himself popular for five minutes!'
Cllr Edna Hicks
West Devon Borough Council
East Ward, Okehampton
ANOTHER week, another self-serving and petulant defence of the core strategy by a borough councillor (Letters, June 17).
Robin Musgrave claims that only Cllr Ted Sherrell wants the plan scrapped. If he is so confident about this, I suggest he proposes a motion for the plan to be called back to the whole council so that it can be ratified before it is submitted to the planning inspector.
His argument that the core strategy should go through, simply because the officers have spent five years working on it is preposterous. If the 'extensive documentary evidence' mentioned by Cllr Musgrave is robust and the groundwork thorough, it does not have to be jettisoned. It does not have to be repeated.
If that five years of work has been properly conducted and conscientiously documented, it can be used to inform a different set of decisions. However, it very much appears that elements of the evidence base for the core strategy have been cobbled together after the event to support arguments for a fait accompli.
Finally, West Devon Borough Council chief executive David Incoll tells me that Tavistock and Okehampton are the most sustainable locations for these houses. Why? Because of 'the paucity of services in our villages'.
Somehow it has escaped his notice that this paucity of services results from a paucity of population. Does the council not understand anything about the private sector? Thriving villages with young families have a better chance of keeping open their pubs, post offices and shops.
Maybe paying some attention to national events (or even listening to the Archers) would help them understand what the rest of us call 'market forces'.
Ann Keelan
Whitchurch Road, Tavistock
l There was an error in a letter regarding West Devon Borough Council's core strategy, published in last week's Times.
A paragraph in the letter, from Alex Mettler, should have read: 'I have not met one person who says we should not have a core strategy, the electorate are saying they do not want the core strategy which is being imposed upon us.'