Sir, – The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government's defence of his decision to bypass local planning for new housing estates reminds me of other examples where the advice of trained and experienced professionals has been ignored by politicians with the inevitable results, not least the failure to incorporate a land-value tax when we reintroduced rates. The planning proposal is even contrary to Simon Coveney's department's avowed intent to broaden local democracy. The report that grounded those reforms, Putting People First (2012), made much of the importance of local input to decision-making, yet the pre-planning meetings now proposed are not open to the public and so cannot benefit from local knowledge. Building houses is not good enough. We need to build communities, and that requires local input. – Yours, etc,
JUDY OSBORNE,
Wicklow.