I HAVE little doubt that the majority of North Hinksey parishioners will welcome the Vale of White Horse District Council agreement with Mace to allow a revised application for the West Way shopping centre.

North Hinksey Parish Council (NHPC) has been actively involved in the process from the beginning.

As the development is within the parish, its planning committee is a statutory consultee, and at its meetings its members have to consider all applications before them with an open mind, based on planning law and local planning rules.

Until the meeting at which it was considered, they were therefore unable to indicate their support or opposition, and to take part in discussions in public media.

We were thus able to present the council’s case at the Vale planning committee on December 3, taking into account the views of all parishioners, most of whom agreed that to do nothing was not acceptable, but were against the scope and many of the features of Doric Properties’ proposals.

Following rejection by the Vale, the parish council contacted leader Matthew Barber, and as a result of this initiative, two very positive meetings have been held between the Vale, parish council representatives and other stakeholders. It is particularly encouraging that the Vale and Mace accepted our suggestion that the new proposals should be worked through in collaboration with stakeholders, rather than the too frequent situation where developers work up a detailed proposal and then present it to stakeholders in a take-it-or-leave-it “consultation”.

We hope that a much more satisfactory solution can be found to serve a growing population in the parish and outside it, including a larger, modern replacement for the Seacourt Hall, with good facilities for parishioners of all ages.

Dr ANDREW PRITCHARD Chairman North Hinksey Parish Council planning committee Laburnum Road North Hinksey Oxford