IN his response to Josh Wright’s article on the risks of planning process corruption under BCP Council (August 5), council director Bill Cotton claims that the Transparency International report is ‘outdated’ and reflects only on the preceding councils. Well, he should know, as he was a director at Bournemouth Borough Council (BBC).

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During the drawing up of the Wessex Fields scheme, BBC bought Green Belt land for development, without public consultation. Later, a planning officer’s report recommending refusal of the scheme was effectively hidden away in the appendices of other documentation. The officer left the council and a company whose sole role is to help developers gain planning permission was brought in to write a new, favourable recommendations report for an almost unaltered scheme which was then passed at the planning board.

CONOR O’LUBY

Throop Road, Bournemouth