SIR — Readers may remember that at the development exhibition held at the Hobby Horse in April, the district council carried out a consultation exercise. We were all given a questionnaire to complete and hand back. Why is it that after three months they are not able to produce the results? Upon enquiry, I am told that they have not been published "as further work is being undertaken to verify the views of the public who did not participate in the exercise". Yet in a county council minute of June 8 it states that "the results of the consultation exercise undertaken by WSDC suggest deep concerns held within the local community . . ." Who is telling the truth? We now learn that over £700,000 of our money has been spent on fees etc. I think someone must be held responsible for this spending if the community decides that it wants none of these grand ideas. Two of the reports produced by consultants proved to be flawed. No-one at WSDC found the flaws. But again our money is spent obtaining Mark 2, or is it Mark 3, editions that say what the council wants to hear. We all saw the pathetic presentations made by these consultants at the shambles of a public meeting. There is an old saying that "a consultant is a man who borrows your watch in order to tell you the time, and then keeps the watch and charges you for it". Can we be assured that at the public meeting on August 3 we have the right people on the platform to answer our questions and that they are not hiding at the back of the hall again. Perhaps the full cabinet and senior officers would be a start. Unless certain councillors start talking and listening to the electorate, I am convinced they will lose their seats at the next election and democracy will be restored to West Somerset once again. Arthur Phillips, Church Street, Minehead.
