John Blanchard, of Totnes Road, Newton Abbot, writes:

Thank you for giving front page prominence to the most recent application to build on Wolborough Church fields and the objections that have been made, including my own.

However, I wish to point out that in my letter of objection my main argument was that if the town needed a green lung area in l982, how much more does it need one now, after nearly three decades of residential building within and around the town centre?

In the years leading up to the l982 inquiry, residents had watched as the planners allowed spasmodic building around the perimeter of the rural landscape. A row of houses here, a few bungalows there – gradually these insidious incursions were enveloping the coutryside. it was time to call a halt. The Department of the Envrionment inspector agreed and said any further development would detract from the amenity value of the remainder. He added that the fields should therefore be preserved in their entirety.

There were more than 400 objectors to the final plans in l982.

Many of them are no longer with us. They believed they had preserved the fields for posterity and that their descendants and future townsfolk would enjoy the scenic rural landscape indefinitely.

We should not let their endeavours be in vain. However arbitrary the boundary that was drawn in l982 may have been we should not allow it to be breached.

I understand that the time limit for objections has been extended to June 24.THIS AND OTHER LETTERS IN OUR ONLINE EDITION