The cost of developers applying for planning permission is set down by the Government, but this charge cannot cover the immense cost incurred by councils.

It certainly does not cover the cost of repeated appeals and resubmissions by applicants. Developers should be made to pay the full costs involved.

Appeal tribunals on immigration, traveller site abuses, compensation claims are all funded by the taxpayer, whatever the spurious nature of the original action.

The abuse of the system is well documented with fat-cat lawyers raking in huge sums of money for the work they undertake for many dispossessed groups’ “rights”.

Many ambulance-chasing type legal firms seek to exploit our nation’s sense of fair play by pursuing actions that would have no prospect of getting to court without public funding.

My suggestion is that any application or case that is dismissed, in the first instance, should require the appellant to fund any appeal themselves.

It would stop legal firms from encouraging such behaviour in the first place and save taxpayers a fortune.

Before local authorities remove essential services for the elderly and children they should stop the squandering of our taxpayers’ money on unnecessary expenditure.

We wouldn’t notice a reduction in planning officers or traffic wardens, for instance, but we will notice a loss of school crossing patrols and street cleaners.

In our new Big Society we need to prioritise and the public need to make their voices heard as to where those priorities lie.

Linda Kendall
Lubbards
Rayleigh