I READ with interest the letter from Mr Dave Bentley of Radcliffe (Bury Times, July 30) regarding the planning application to build on Barracks Lodge, Bury, and the developer's efforts to get round the planning refusal.

I was present at an inquiry chaired by the Planning Inspectorate with respect to Wainhomes' application to build on land off Longsight Road at Holcombe Brook. An appeal for more "public interest" was in vain as only nine people attended. Three gave evidence - including myself - as to why a beautiful oak tree of some 140 years should not be cut down to make way for access to a lovely field with grazing animals, right in our midst.

As an onlooker, and not a participant in your particular case, I feel that you are all chasing a lost cause. Stately Homes will get their way in the end.

It was quite apparent to us at the time that the Inspectorate was not listening to our protests. However, if supporters of Barracks Lodge can submit to him a 5,000-name petition and fill the inquiry venue with three or four hundred protesting people then he might have cause to listen!

Every week we hear of similar cases in the press, but most protests come to nothing. I wish Dave Bentley success but the fact is that money talks where development is concerned and in the end the council, if costs are awarded against them, will have to pay up and not the developers.

ROGER HARGREAVES,

Longsight Road,

Holcombe Brook, Bury.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.