MADAM, If villagers in Lea feel they are unfairly excluded from the planning process by Herefordshire County Council and developers than it should come as no surprise. It was left to members of the Lea Action Group to inform horrified householders in the village of a plan to construct 44 dwellings on pasture land adjacent to their homes on the Gloucester side of Lea. While the grim tidings were on the council's website, no notices had been posted at the time, no letters had been sent to home owners to let them know what was happening and the developer had not shown Lea's long-suffering inhabitants the courtesy of consulting them prior to filing the application. It will of course be argued that the council is not obliged to write to home owners any more than the developer is obliged to hold a consultation exercise. I would submit however that both should be made statutory requirements, with the developer footing the bill, and that local residents and other stake-holders should be notified of and entitled to attend any pre-application discussions between planners and developers so that they can make their views known. My point is that the planning process is already skewed heavily in favour of developers and that planning officers should be as ready - indeed required - to engage in a dialogue with local residents as they are with builders and their agents. Villagers are not asking for special treatment. What they are asking for however is not to be ignored and shut out.

Steve Banner, Lea