Keep it local

AS A retired local authority chief planner, I am pleased that sustainability expert Stefanie o’Gorman has recognised that the underlying problem with car ownership is in part related to the lack of provision of nearby essential services (Mail).

This is the result of the closure of primary schools, local health and social care services, together with the lack of shops, pubs and playing fields in new developments.

These facilities are not typically provided by developers. Councils have little power to demand them when the Government is weakening planning powers to encourage housebuilding in inaccessible locations.

This is once again an example of treating the symptoms rather than the root cause of a problem. At least the sticking plaster industry must be booming under the Government.

DEREK CLACK, address supplied.