I was grateful for the comments by Chris Cousins, the Head of Sustainable Development at Oxfordshire County Council (Oxford Mail, November 29) on local opposition to the planned incinerator.

His assurance that the objections of local people would be studied gladly, was welcome.

It highlights the requirement for local people to understand what is being proposed in their name and register their opposition in letters to the council (quoting Ref: WRG SUT/APF/616 60CM), their MP, their councillors, and in the petition at www.scai.co.uk.

In the planning process, public concern is a consideration which the council has to bear in mind. In other areas it has led to the abandonment of plans for incinerators.

People, therefore, really do need to make their views known. In response to Chris, I also need hardly remind him that in fulfiling its duty of care, the council cannot just rely on the Health Protection and Environment agencies.

It is the council’s responsibility to assess all material evidence and the public perception of risk.

They cannot pass the buck, particularly as the Health Protection Agency’s policy on incineration is so heavily caveated, as to raise concerns in itself.

Finally, the fact that the WRG application did not even include human health risk assessement appendices, until we pointed it out, does not fill one with confidence that that assessement will be as detailed and robust as Chris would no doubt want it to be.

ROBIN DRAPER, Sutton Courtenay