SIR — In response to the report "Planners' order could bankrupt builder" (Free Press August 2), the following points should be made.
Holford Parish Council has always vigorously opposed the plan for two large detached houses on the Holford Glen garage site. The site is a very sensitive area of the village, small, and very close to existing buildings.
The major objections were the heights of the houses, thereby dominating the area unsympathetically and one house being adjacent to the main A39 creating a major hazard for traffic turning into and out of Holford.
The site is compact and therefore the builders should have ben meticulous in setting out the foundations. West Somerset District Council planning department was made aware of a probable error in the footings last February. The roof trusses should have been thoroughly checked before installation.
It is, therefore, difficult to be sympathetic to the builders who have now completed a house one metre too high, and half a metre too close to the road. These variations are highly significant for this site.
The excuses given by Alan Coles Associates, the architects, who one assumes were overseeing the building work, are not acceptable.
A letter of January 2000 from Mr Alan Coles, in response to the parish council's objections, gave a clear undertaking that the roof ridge heights would be reduced in the final plan.
The planners, the builder and the architect can all walk away, but we in Holford have to live with what they leave behind!
Councillor Martin Upsall,
Holford Parish Council.