WHILE residents of Botley swot up on the material considerations of planning for their Doric objection letters, it may be of interest to local council taxpayers to remember that Vale of White Horse District Council is making a planning objection to the proposed Waitrose store along the Botley Road.

Vale District Council has placed a holding objection with Oxford city with reference to the proposed Waitrose store and no-one can imagine why. Is this a sensible use of a planning officer’s time we have to ask ourselves, given the planning workload at the Vale district council is so high?

Or could it be that this is, of course, just sour grapes given that the Doric offering on food space alone appears to be at least twice the size of the proposed Waitrose?

We wait with bated breath to read the Vale’s full reasoning in the hope we can steal some of the Vale’s planning arguments for our own Doric objection letters.

The Waitrose application may be done and dusted before the Doric consultation is closed, so the case for a huge supermarket in Botley looks like it will be getting another torpedo.

If I was Doric and a quality supermarket was planning to open up just four bus stops away, I would be worried, very worried. The imminent Westgate decision may finally sink the Doric ship before it is even launched.

JOHN MARRIOTT Lime Road Botley Oxford