THE late Sir John Mortimer was wont to remind us that the 'presumption of innocence' is the Golden Thread that runs through the English criminal justice system. The planning system, too, has its roots in principle, namely the primacy of the 'public interest'.

It is no surprise to me that the planning inspector in the Rest Room case put this at the head of the issues that he considered when dismissing the appeals against West Devon Borough Council's refusals of applications that would have resulted in the Rest Room's demise.

I was, however, disappointed to read, in your lead story last week, the assertion that '... community issues do not normally over-ride material planning considerations'. The truth is that the public interest is the sole justification for having a planning system at all; it is the most important of all material planning considerations. Were it not so, what possible justification could there be for interfering with that even more fundamental principle of the Common Law in a free country: that a man is entitled to do as he will with his own property?

That said, there remains an implicit pitfall, excavated by the tendency of politicians to emulate Humpty Dumpty in their abuse of language. 'Public interest' is seldom accurately indicated by public outcry and 'community issue' is a phrase much abused to mean whatever its user wants it to mean. There is also a corollary: in the absence of manifest harm to clear public interest, a planning committee has no business to interfere with the Common Law right aforesaid.

Planning issues like this one, where the Development Plan seems to afford scant justification for refusal, require the planning committee to turn to the Golden Thread of the planning system, namely the question of the manifest public interest. It is greatly to WDBC's credit that its members had the courage of their convictions and that its officers subsequently defended their case cogently before the planning inspector.

Roger W Mathew

Down Road

Tavistock