COUN. Ingrid Brook ( Hexham Couran t, June 12) talks of her suspicion of assurances from County Hall that written views of town and parish councils, as well as the general public, would be taken into account when planning officers make decisions.

Head of planning at County Hall, Karen Ledger, said that notice is always taken of public opinion, set against planning law and central Government guidance.

However, she contradicts her own statement by saying that the low number of objections under the old system required to bring planning applications to committee was open to abuse, with objectors going from door to door persuading people to sign a standard letter.

I take this to mean that objectors are to be ignored unless the numbers reach some threshold set by the planning community.

Perhaps Miss Ledger would care to stop campaigning politicians coming to the door when they want our vote. How is it possible for a non-elected officer to dictate to any elected person, or the electorate, what is and is not good for them?

Who do these officials work for? Certainly not the public, who ultimately pay their salaries.

It seems that there is some disconnection between democracy and what appears to be a dictatorship promoted by planners.

ALAN CARSON,

Prudhoe