Writing in your edition of November 13, Clive Paul objects strongly to the excessive house-building that we see around us- and I agree.

He rightly points out that there is often no infrastructure to support the increase in population; he is particularly incensed at the inadequacy of our road network.

Mr Paul takes aim at the local planning authorities and, by implication, the councillors who are responsible for the planning decisions.

He wrote: "I fail to understand how the local authorities in this area continue to ruin the character and environment of our local area."

Mr Paul, I would suggest, can have little inside knowledge of the pressures those derided councillors are under.

Since he appears to be asking for further education, I will oblige him.

All local planning authorities operate under rules imposed by the central government; in matters of new housing, this makes itself felt as "Housing Allocation Targets".

How these are arrived at is too opaque/complicated to go into here but each 5-year Local Plan must allocate building land for the determined number of new homes.

If the plan fails to do so, developers then have virtual carte blanche to do as they please.

So how does East Devon fare?

The current requirement is for 893 new homes.

The new government has pledged to build 1.5 million homes and is slackening many constraints in order to do so.

East Devon planners are now aware that the result for East Devon will be a new target of 1,146 homes.

The plan is still in the making but there is no doubt that over the coming years, Mr Paul will have much more to complain about.

You should direct your criticism elsewhere, Mr Paul, I don't think you would swap shoes with the councillors on the Planning Committee.

Adrian Toole
Exmouth