Councillor Malcolm Buckley showed his true colours in his response to the discovery of orchids on Basildon Golf Course, (May 13). And council leader Tony Ball must have had a chuckle when he made Mr Buckley cabinet member for the environment.

Putting the fox in charge of the hen house and other well-known sayings spring to mind.

When Mr Buckley was council leader, a colony of great crested newts was discovered on the golf course.

His response was to promote a plan to dump almost half a million tonnes of landfill on it.

Now the orchids are public knowledge, Mr Buckley is threatening to turn it into a housing estate.

Let’s hope giant pandas aren’t discovered there.

What would Mr Buckley threaten us with then? A nuclear waste plant?

Mick Toomer
Friends of Basildon Golf Course
Ravensdale
Basildon