I READ with interest your letters page of May 3, concerning West Devon Borough Council planning committee's decision to grant housing on the identified second primary school site in Okehampton.

I was shocked because this site had been identified in the West Devon Borough Council Local Plan of 2005 and the recent Core Strategy. Also Devon County Council had written to West Devon Borough Council planning department, saying it needed the site for future education provision in the town and objected to the applications.

Picking up some points in the letters, I would like to reassure you that when you sit on a planning committee, members consider the planning issues that are relevant to the planning applications before them. Politics does not enter into it!

I share the concerns about future sports fields etc east of Okehampton and now we will have to find a new site for the second primary school as well.

The delivery of the link road between Exeter Road and Crediton Road is very important for Okehampton and that is why sticking to medium and long term plans is so essential.

Cllr James McInnes

Leader of West Devon

Borough Council