Delyth Jenkins Evans, solicitor, South Hams Council, writes:

On your letters page, Friday, January 27, you published a letter from a correspondent unhappy with the decision of South Hams Council to grant planning permission for development at the Sun Bay Hotel.

It contained the complaint that '...the local community was deprived of vital representation when the local council representative absented himself from the debate and vote'.

I have been asked to point out that the councillor in question left the meeting during consideration of that item on my advice, in order to avoid any allegation that a councillor with a personal interest in the matter had taken part in making the decision.

The local community's views, including a late letter, were made known to the committee members through being set out in the officer's written and oral reports, in accordance with our normal practice.