I am truly astonished that the Tories on Poole’s planning committee voted through the application to build more than 800 new units on green fields at Talbot Heath.

This application could have been refused on so many grounds I can hardly find room to list them – overdevelopment, traffic congestion and parking issues, impact upon protected heathland, effect upon protected wildlife and building on green spaces for a start.

What a sorry state of affairs that, in a week which has seen the new coalition government promise to return decision-making powers to local councils rather than resting with unelected regional bodies setting policies and quotas, our local Tories take a decision that flies in the face of local planning policies and utterly ignores the wishes and fears of the vast majority of local residents.

Cllr Philip Eades, Branksome West, Borough of Poole