NOT for the first time, I feel impelled to ask, in connection with planning issues, what on earth West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) is playing at? I am in no position, having been off the council for seven years, to express an informed view about the planning merits of specific recent development proposals for either peripheral supermarkets, rural wedding venues or wind turbines; but it is evident that something is badly wrong when, for the second time in the same council term, a councillor feels impelled to seek judicial review of his own council, costs are awarded against the council in a planning appeal and your letters page is filled with complaints — some with a high level of cogency — on multiple issues. The experience of 20 years as a councillor tell me that such a situation can only arise when councillors generally and committee chairmen in particular fail to master their briefs. We who elect them have a rightful expectation of better behaviour. It is not at all surprising that members of the public misunderstand the implications of the quasi-judicial role of planning committees, and so expect to exercise more influence over their decisions than the law provides for. Conversely, it is profoundly depressing to surmise, on the basis of your reports and correspondence over recent weeks, that WDBC's planning committee has just as little understanding of its proper function. Four things are needed for the planning system to work properly: a coherent local planning policy document; mutual respect between planning officers and councillors; a chairman who masters his brief thoroughly; and proper briefings for planning committee members on their duties under planning law. I do not know which of these requirements have broken down at WDBC, but it is clear that at least one of them has. It is high time for councillors to get a grip: it is what we elect them to do. Roger Mathew Down Road Tavistock