Sir – Fiona Guy’s letter “How can we respond?” (October 14) was the tip of the iceberg when it came to the frustration of residents in Thame over the so-called public consultation on the council’s core strategy for the town.

Your newspaper frequently reports on battles between local residents and developers, yet what is happening in Thame is a struggle between the residents and two elected authorities — Thame Town Council and South Oxfordshire District Council.

The latter launched its online consultation on October 1 with minimal publicity. Only on October 9 did I receive a letter informing me of this consultation. The deadline for comments is October 29.

Thame Town Council decided to inform residents about this SODC consultation on its website on October 12, just 17 days before the deadline. With three councillors serving on both town and district councils, the town council must have known SODC was going to have a consultation on this earlier. What has further annoyed people is that the town council has changed its mind with no reasons given, because it now says it favours site F (north-west) after previously supporting two other sites. The district council favours site D (Thame Park Road).

People want answers, and I’m led to believe that a local resident is to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act to both SODC and the town council to try to establish the truth.

Furthermore, they are also considering a judicial review, and our MP John Howell should intervene and ask SODC to extend the consultation period. After all, he was one of the architects of localism.

Greg Smith Thame