Mid Sussex District Council often confuses "box ticking consultation" with actual consultation.

What we have here is "presentation" with focus groups and questionnaires that pose nebulous questions rather than direct questions.

For example, the recent Thornfield Properties questionnaire asked "Do you think the station site needs redeveloping?" or "Do you think brownfield sites should be used for housing development?"

Most of the replies would have been yes for both questions I would have thought.

However, I think they may have got a somewhat different response if they had asked more direct questions such as "Do you think the scheme retains the character of the town?", "Do you agree with building 702 flats at the station that could be seven or eight storeys high?" or "Do you think the scheme provides adequate parking and a better integrated transport system?"

I agree with Brian Hargreaves' comments wholeheartedly but would go further. If the council entered into a genuine dialogue with the electorate then perhaps the referendum would not have been requested.

Also, if Councillor Susan Seward is suggesting that this is a waste of taxpayers' money, she may find herself on sticky ground, as I would remind her of the council's recent record regarding losses of nearly £270,000 on the Big Culture Show, the £1.7 million loan taken out to pay for the new bins (an additional £100,000-plus cost from the original estimate) and of course the latest fiasco of spending £130,000 of our money on car park ticket machines that do not work properly, still do not give change and have resulted in retailers in the town losing business.

Time and again the council is criticised for poor communication in official reports but seems to ignore these comments, which is why in the last Audit Commission report they had gone from being in the top 25% performing councils when it came to customer satisfaction to being in the bottom 25%.

If councillors have any sense they will use the referendum to re-engage with the electorate and to take on board the public's views to come up with a scheme for the town that we can all be proud of - enhancing the town while still retaining its market town character and heritage and showing they have remembered they are there to serve the public."

  • Barbara Woods, Haywards Heath