I can’t quibble with your declaration of openness – and patently, ensuring developers keep their noses out of the process is just how it should be – and I am encouraged by the new arrangements for public participation, which all will agree are very positive. I am much more concerned about the continuing propensity of some of the ‘duff’ Tory councillors* we still have around to make idiotic decisions if for no better reason than that after 8 years they really do not seem to comprehend what the process is all about.

The council is clearly being pointed towards a single-settlement solution. Once that decision is made in principle – a decision the council surely cannot now avoid – what price evidence-led planning? Will it become ‘cats in a sack’ time once again? We have to have to ensure that everyone involved in the process is repeating the mantra: ‘Planning is not a political process!’

(* I will refrain from identifying them by name!)