WE in Hatherleigh have been inundated with surveys recently, indirectly or directly due to the proposals by the owners of Hatherleigh Market (Hatherleigh Market LLP) and Devon County Council, which own some of the site, to redevelop the site.

I ascertain that these surveys are worthless as part of a consultation for the following reasons:-

The Plan-it survey, paid for by the council tax payer can be filled in by anyone any number of times as there is no effort to identify the participant.

The Housing Survey, run by the Charitable Trust 'Community Council of Devon', run from County Hall, Exeter can be filled in as above.

The survey run by LHC, the consultants, again could be filled in as many times as one wished.

The only survey with replies limited to one per family computer asks ten straightforward questions, although it can only be filled in by computer owners, which is a disadvantage.

All of these organisations have their own agendas, the first two to build houses to fulfil central government's grand scheme. The third is to get as much money as possible for Hatherleigh Market LLP and Devon County Council as they own some of the land. The last is trying to preserve the uniqueness of Hatherleigh.

I would hope that all the organisers of these surveys will put all their replies on their websites so anyone interested can make their own interpretation of the declared results.

Neil Price

Bridge Street

Hatherleigh