Dear Editor, I read with interest the views submitted in the letter by W J Tearney.

I thought the Porthleven Town Council planning meeting at which was discussed the proposed Shrubberies Hill development, as planning meetings can go, went rather well. The meeting was not in the form of public consultation, although members of the public were permitted to speak, in accordance with normal procedure, public speaking time was limited. For any member of the public to interject numerously, after public speaking had finished, is in my view rude.

Councillor Andrew Wallis was invited to speak whilst others were asked to leave because he was not disruptive, or rude and he is a Porthleven town councillor that was present at a Porthleven Town Council meeting; the fact he is not a member of the planning committee is irrelevant, the discussion of affordable housing and any proposed attached 106 agreement has every relevance to the planning application.

Councillor Andrew Wallis had relevant details in front of him because he is an efficient and dedicated councillor; in my view a councillor would have to be a bit dozy to attend a meeting without being clued up on the content of the agenda, or not being prepared to speak if asked in an official capacity.

With reference to elected and co-opted councillors, being co-opted does not make one any the less efficient or dedicated as a councillor. If one has no competition for election that is hardly the fault of the person wanting to join the council, more so in my view, to do with the reluctance of some others to stand for council themselves.

I personally believe that anyone that is of the notion to resign from the privilege of being a member of Porthleven Town Council, or indeed any council, because a decision does not favour one’s personal choice, or a meeting is not conducted in a manor with which one agrees, may not anyway be best placed as a councillor.

Kind regards Gill Zella Martin