HAVING read much about the proposed Chesterton development I decided to take the morning off work and go along to the council meeting last Tuesday morning to see if I could make any sense of the proposed development.

I suspect that like me, most ordinary residents of the town and surrounding area would question the existing plans for the sheer size, density, lack of infrastructure and the obvious and many adverse effects it will have on Cirencester.

Cirencester and the country as a whole desperately needs more affordable housing and I’m all for it if it’s properly planned, the correct type of house, built sensitively and are spread evenly across the region where they are needed.

I had downloaded the agenda from the council website and the six public questions to be asked to be asked of Cllr N. Parsons (deputy leader and cabinet member for forward planning) seemed really well thought out and reflected what I would have liked to have asked and received comprehensive answers for.

The questions put to Cllr Parsons and his replies are too long to list here. They are, however, well documented on social media and I would presume in the council minutes.

All I can say to Cllr Parsons is that it’s a real shame that you didn’t choose to be open and transparent. You had an opportunity to engage with the public, but instead you preferred to treat us with disdain.

It’s clear that the public are nothing but an irritation to you and the rest of the team behind the development, but this dismissive behaviour is just so, so disappointing from one who holds public office.

I have never been to a council meeting before and genuinely went with an open mind to see if democracy really does work.

After all, aren’t councillors elected to represent their local community and to listen to the taxpayers’ views? “They have to balance the needs and interests of residents, the political party they represent and the council” (CDC website).

Clearly not in the Cotswolds they don’t.

JOHN PATTISON-SHARP Cirencester