IT IS alarming to read that the owners of Elms Parade (Oxford Mail, March 18) fear a compulsory purchase order which would enable Doric to proceed with their plans for the complete demolition and redevelopment of the West Way centre.

The owners are entitled to do what they want, but if they do not agree to advance acquisition, is the Vale of White Horse District Council confident it could demonstrate that the taking of this land is necessary and that there is a “compelling case in the public interest” to do so?

Planning objections should focus on material considerations: the current proposal is out of scale; it is out of character; and it contravenes the council’s own policies as well as evidence of need outlined in the 2013 Retail and Town Centre Study.

Surely, from a moral point of view, human considerations should also be contemplated? Are the following actions made in the “public interest”:

  • Displacing vulnerable elderly people for a multiplex cinema?
  • Forcing independent traders out of business without a phased development?
  • Signing a contract where legally crafted elements make it impossible to block the development without incurring huge costs which would fall to taxpayers?

Given the tone of recent coverage in the media and the number of objections against the plans, it would seem that the majority of members from the local community do not feel that Doric’s plans are in their “interest”.

Is this redevelopment becoming a case for profit, rather than a case for local needs and “public interest” ?

Susannah Penn, Pinnocks Way, Oxford