William J Hardiman, of Courtenay Terrace, Station Road, Moretonhampstead, writes:

The Dartmoor National Park Authority is dragging its feet on publicising its new development management delivery plan and its attendant consultation process.

This plan will affect the development of the national park and all the communities within it for the next 20 years. In particular it will determine the amount of green and brown land to be used for housing.

I was the only member of the public at the plan's launch meeting of the DNPA Members on June 3. it was immediately clear that this plan is going to cause a lot of controversy, especially in the 'settlement' areas (including my town) designated to have 60 per cent of new housing in the national park. Yet the DNP forward planning department will not put it on their website (to which 33 per cent of households have no access) until July 1 (today) and stakeholders will receive hard copies by July 4 at the earliest. The consultation process is only just about to be publicised and is scheduled to start on July 5 in Ashburton and July 6 in Moretonhampstead – probably the two most controversial 'settlement area' plans.

The plan is 300 pages but a planning officer said that I need to read only the two or three pages which affect my town.

Yet we are told by planners quite rightly not to be 'Nimby'. Moreover many of us have families and interests in other parts of Dartmoor and/or belong to groups like the Dartmoor Preservation Association; surely we would like more time to see the overall picture and where our settlement fits into it before passing judgement on something that will affect us for the foreseeable future? How can the consultation meetings next week be any meaningful use of DNPA money to staff them (at time of severe cutbacks) and the public's time and effort to attend them?

Not very good forward planning by the DNPA.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION