WHAT on earth is West Devon Borough Council playing at? Your page 3 report (May 24 'Borough opts for legal road over Focus site') makes it sound like Ruritania rules, okay.

First, there is no lawful authority for making planning decisions in Part II ('behind closed doors', as you put it); there can be a case under Schedule 12 for holding proceedings in Part II where contracts or legal proceedings in contemplation might otherwise be compromised, but the situation you described clearly does not qualify.

Second, the scenario of a sitting senior councillor and former chairman of planning applying to the High Court in his own name, albeit at taxpayers' expense, for consent to apply to quash a recent decision of his own committee is one which the writers of 'Yes, Minister' would probably have dismissed as too wildly improbable to be credible. In the real world, it borders on fantasy.

Third, since it is clear that we are dealing with 'planning' issues, what happened to basic principles? For clarity, these are that (a) planning is concerned solely with regulating land use in the public interest, (b) policy (the development plan) is debated in public and published, (c) decisions are made in public and in accordance with the adopted development plan unless material planning considerations dictate otherwise and (d) that decisions test only conformity with policy and never attempt to arbitrate conflicts of private interests: those are the proper preserves of the civil courts.

If a council becomes dissatisfied with a previous planning decision, it has powers to revoke it. Any compensation claimed by the beneficiaries of a consent so revoked is likely to be small beer compared with the cost of a High Court action; in any case I should be astonished if any judge allows the initial application to go forward for judicial review, since it is almost inconceivable that the reviewing judge would quash a decision barely ten months old in want of cogent evidence of a material and unforeseeable change of circumstances.

I am all too well aware that planning committees are occasionally tempted to make perverse decisions in the face of noisy controversy — and have even been known to succumb to that temptation — but for an entire council to lose the plot so spectacularly and concoct a flimsy excuse to hide the fact behind Schedule 12 suggests a worrying lack of grip, not to mention a total disregard for constitutional propriety.

Roger W Mathew

Former (Independent) West Devon Cllr

(1991-2007)

and Chairman of Planning Committee

(1999-2007

I HAVE worked on the Plymouth Road estate, Tavistock, for eight years.

Through one relocation and then the closure of Focus I have witnessed a severe decline in trade on the estate.

We need the Focus building to be occupied as a matter of urgency — to draw customers.

The planning legal wrangle has already delayed things by ten months, and it could drag on for another year. Cllr Phillip Sanders describes the council's legal action as 'relatively cheap and simple'.

Let me tell him the true cost of the action is good honest local people are needlessly losing their jobs.

I know my employment is at risk and am worried sick. So, Cllr Sanders should not dare say the cost is 'cheap and simple', when lives are being wrecked.

Helen Baker

Bere Alston

I NOTE your editorial regarding West Devon Borough Council's decision to challenge a planning application at the High Court. This decision was made in camera, why? This is our money they are spending and I note that our money is being used to indemnify Cllr Sanders and another against claims against them. This is disgraceful.

There is no reason for the meeting to be held in secret except to protect the reputation of councillors. There is no confidentiality reason whatever for this decision. Why are they challenging this planning application?

They had three months to challenge it and did nothing; now we are ten months further on, what has changed? Are there issues which are not being disclosed to us? It is impossible for the voting public to make a judgement unless there is open democracy.

We look at North Korea and other totalitarian communist states where decisions are made in secret, well West Devon Borough Council appears to operate in the same way. Democracy is suspended if it will harm the reputation of councillors, enabling them to spend our money recklessly over an issue which we are not permitted to know about.

This is a Conservative-dominated council. I never realised that they are so left wing that they are prepared to adopt such secret meetings. This is something that I shall remember come the next election.

I will also be monitoring just how much this ridiculous legal action will cost each and every householder and business enterprise in West Devon, unless of course they vote to keep that secret too.

We have here just a sample of the new Conservative idea of open Government. They protect themselves at our expense and frivolously squander our money for what purpose? Sorry, but you are not allowed to know.

Welcome to North Korea.

Cllr Brian A A Trew

Tavistock Town Councillor (Independent, South Ward)