Sir – Mary Clarkson and I appeared at the 2011 public inquiry to present the North East Area Committee’s case against development of the Friar by Tesco.

Questions of road safety and traffic problems were our strongest objection to development of the site. Alan Foulkes (Letters, December 19) has a short memory in suggesting that the city council was unaware of road safety concerns.

There was a flaw in the county council’s overall support for the Tesco scheme. Their road safety audit said that the junction was potentially unsafe which was at odds with their highway officers’ positive assessment.

I drew full attention to that contradiction at the inquiry. But the planning inspector decided against my assessment of potential hazard at the junction.

Failure by Mr Foulkes to accept these facts or check the public record when making accusations against the city council looks careless or vindictive.

Mr Foulkes’s other claim, that local opinion was not sought by city council, is also out of order.

The statutory requirements for public consultation were meticulously followed in relation to both planning applications. Mary Clarkson raised the Friar development at least six times between 2007 and 2011 in her regular Labour newsletter which goes through every letterbox in Marston. She told all residents about meetings and opportunities to have their say about Tesco. Mary Clarkson also met Alan Foulkes recently to discuss the Friar.

As a postscript to Mr Foulkes’s letter, I suspect that the majority local opinion in Marston today is that the Friar site is a complete mess and is a potential danger to the public as the building crumbles away.

Roy Darke, City councillor for Headington Hill and Northway Marston