Derek newman, of Tudor Road, Newton Abbot, chairman of Newton Abbot Civic Society, writes:

I would refer to the letter published by you in last week's Mid-Devon Advertiser from Mr Wall criticising a letter written by Mr Mitchell in relation to planning matters and, in particular, the Teignbridge 2013-2033 Local Plan.

Mr Wall expresses surprise at what he calls the ignorance of some respondents on planning matters.

I believe Mr Wall is naive to think that the average man in the street understands the first thing about planning matters; they are complex, they need a very good understanding and knowledge of locally-adopted plans, government legislation, planning documents, planning terminology, the mindsets of planning officers etc etc so let's not kick 'the well meaning' local community for such ignorance.   He did not mention whether or not he spoke on behalf of the town council of Chudleigh, therefore I presume he was speaking as an individual.  

I personally am not an expert on planning and all the procedures that go with it, but within the society we have members who do understand planning procedures.

I notice in the plan that Chudleigh is earmarked for 435 homes. Also what about the five acres of land for 'employment development'? I would suggest Mr Wall confines his efforts to preserving Chudleigh before his town loses its identity.

I accept that there will always be difficulties of reconciling conflicting needs and aspirations through the planning system, partly because planners are black and white whereas the community have 'a heart', have emotional feelings and care about their town/environment and feel frustrated that the democratic system fails them.

The community's input reflect the aforesaid.

Planners have always and will always be criticised; it comes with the job.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION