LAST Tuesday the Uplands Planning Committee debated, for the second time, a planning application in Charlbury.

There were over 100 local objections from residents, which at the meeting got summarised extremely briefly by the planning officer.

Charlbury Town Council, and Conservation Committee and six other local representatives also spoke against it, yet despite this the application was passed by 5 votes to 3, with 3 or 4 abstentions. This means it was passed by a minority vote.

Is it not the duty of our elected representatives to cast a vote, one way or another, rather than sitting on the fence, otherwise it ends up being a denial of democracy, and one asks why they were elected in the first place. The result was that the application passed by a minority vote.

HELEN BESSEMER-CLARK

Sheep Street, Charlbury