BE careful what you wish for. Mr Scrivener's letter (Times, October 24) implicitly assumes that abolition of West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) and its planning committee would result in planning decisions being made by town and parish councils.

No chance! Having sat through (and helped to defeat) two attempts by Devon County Council to take over the functions of Devon's District Councils, I know very well that the outcome would be that both strategic and operational planning would be subsumed within the county remit, re-labelled as a 'unitary' council. Given that West Devon now has just four county councillors, the democratic deficit that Mr Scrivener complains of would widen sharply.

It ill behoves me, as a former chairman of WDBC's planning committee, to pass judgement on its current effectiveness; so I shall forbear.

Suffice it to say that planning strategy (which governs operational decisions as a matter of planning law) attracts little public attention during its long, slow deliberations.

All the flak flies up when the operational decisions fall to be made – by which time it is much too late.

Membership of a district planning committee is a poisoned chalice if ever there was one, which may be why compromises are too often attempted that ought never to have been dreamed of. Those who aspire to sit on planning committees ought to be aware of the legal and political minefield that they are volunteering to enter.

All that said, however dissatisfied one may be with particular decisions of WDBC, its continued existence is well worth fighting for.

Councillors from Chagford and Okehampton have a better understanding of Tavistock than those from Exeter and Axminster who could well be appointed to fill up the 'area sub-committees' of a county council-based planning committee.

That was how the area highways sub-committees worked, resulting in such gems as the ghastly Grenofen Gateway.

Roger W Mathew

Willowby

Down Road

Tavistock