I SUPPORT Barbara Ferris (letters, August 6) in her plea for more public accountability from councillors.

In recent months two major developments have provided clear evidence that Herefordshire Council is not prepared to listen to its electorate.

Two weeks ago we had the opening of the new open retail market in Commercial Street and High Town.

Despite the council’s quoted view that 86 per cent of local people were in favour of moving the Cattle Market traders to High Town and Commercial Street, this opinion was based on a survey of only 206 members of the general public.

We are not permitted to know from which socio-economic groups these people were drawn, but we can all appreciate that this number represented an impossibly small sample of the Hereford population of 50,000.

Further, the council’s ‘consultation’ also included 128 businesses and organisations deemed to be affected by the move. Of these, only 12 responded in favour. That is, less than 10 per cent. On this basis, it is difficult to understand how the council could have claimed a mandate for this controversial change.

Now, more recently, the majority Tory group on Herefordshire Council have voted themselves the controlling influence over our planning system.

As Councillor Hunt points out (Readers’ Times, August 6), a new scheme has been ‘bulldozed’ through, effectively removing local representation from the planning process.

Coincidentally, of course, the majority Tory group will now have the power to determine all forthcoming ESG applications.

In my own opinion, therefore, the relocation of the cattle market traders and the re-organisation of the local planning system are simply the early building blocks made necessary to progress the Edgar Street Grid.

The fact that many of us still regard this scheme as being ill-conceived and divisive in terms of producing an integrated city centre re-development appears to be of no consequence to our intransigent council.