WELL over 500 people turned out on Saturday to express their disgust at the plans for the ‘redevelopment’ of the Botley shopping area. May I put in a word for those who were not able to be there: the many residents of Field House, whose flats are home to some of the most deserving and vulnerable members of our society.

The Conservative-dominated Vale of White Horse District Council is continuing to take part in negotiations with Doric, whose plans include treating the land on which Field House stands as if it were an empty plot, with no regard for these people, most of whom are long-standing local residents who have built up the community which Doric are planning to wreck and whose families often live in the Botley area. What is to happen to these residents? Oh, for sure they will be ‘rehoused’ elsewhere in the district, as if they were livestock being relocated to better pasturage. Many Field House residents are very elderly and confused and, frankly, such a move away from what is familiar to them could well hasten the end of their lives. Many of their partners and carers who rely on public transport will not find it easy to visit them as they can presently, so they will be increasingly lonely in their last days.

Doubtless the Conservatives feel that they can handle this inconvenience as a problem which will resolve itself over time as these displaced people die. They have the power to do this, without doubt, if their consciences let them. I do wonder whether any of them has ever set foot in Field House.

I voted for Margaret Thatcher three times and twice for John Major. I was appalled to read that Aneurin Bevan referred to the Conservatives of his day as “vermin”.

How things change.

MARTIN ROBERTS Stone Close Botley Oxford