IN REPLY to Councillor Roy Connelly's letter (October 5) I should like to set the record straight by explaining briefly the background to public speaking at meetings of the West Devon planning committee. Actually, nothing new has been introduced; nor have I any anti-democratic intentions; nor would the committee, let me get away with it if I had.

The 1995-99 council first introduced the procedure for allowing unelected members of the public to apply to speak at meetings of the planning committee. It was a wholly discretionary decision, to enable councillors to hear the view of local people. Three minutes was set down at that time as the maximum for any public speaker.

Those who remember the original debate will recall that it was also envisaged from the outset that, if more than one person applied to address the committee, they would be encouraged to appoint a spokesman and that the chairman would have the final say in regulating numbers.

The system has worked well until recently, when some locally-controversial applications have generated large numbers of requests to speak. It has fallen to me, as chairman, to try to balance things fairly.

The principle that I have applied is to allow one public speaker on each side of the argument, except where it can be shown that there is a large number of 'material planning considerations' (as defined by law) to be addressed and that it would be unreasonable to expect a single speaker to deal with them all in three minutes.

I have made it clear to the committee, to the planning officers and now to your readers that, in those exceptional circumstances, I should allow more than one speaker.

The time spent by committees of the council is not cost-free; every hour spent by the planning committee costs the taxpayer almost a person-day of officer time. I have a clear duty to balance openness with economy. I believe I am doing so fairly and openly.

Cllr R W Mathew

Chairman of West Devon planning committee

THE arbitrary reduction in public access to the planning process noted by Mr Connelly (Letters, October 5), is part of a wider pattern.

The opportunity for the public to speak to the planning committee was introduced by the 1995 Liberal Democrat administration against last-ditch opposition led by the present chair of the committee.

Wild prophecies that the whole process would grind to a halt as hordes of objectors monopolised the meetings were disproved by the inherent common sense of the public, and the system operated without significant problems throughout the last council.

There is now a problem, but from abuse of the system not by the public but by a small minority of councillors. The facility to ask questions of the public after they have made their points is too often being used not to clear up misunderstandings but for long winded pursuit of personal agendas and for posturing before the electors, and there have been some disgraceful examples of hostile cross-examination of applicants, often on matters not material to the planning process.

The result has indeed been to make some meetings unreasonably long, and has cost the public dear in professional advisers with their metres ticking away while councillors drone on.

Councillor Mathew should be looking to curb his committee, not the public.

Nicholas Waterhouse

West Devon Council

member for Burrator