I WRITE again to critique David Baines’ column (Thursday, July 21). 


We all know that the endless and very expensive consultation on the Local Plan is an exercise in box ticking.


The system is designed to give the appearance of listening to the public but in reality it’s designed to ignore the public’s evidence, and instead to rely on the “evidence” of the experts that the council and the developers bring to the inquiries.


It’s not a fair fight, the council paid for a team of QCs, solicitors and experts in everything you could imagine.


Every time the public said something, it would be disagreed with by the experts, whose opinion held sway because they have qualifications they can point to that the public do not.


In my view, the fact that the Planning Inspectorate decided the plan was sound does not mean that it is good, it just means that it is legally on firm ground. 


With regard to the libraries, he states that 800 libraries have been closed since 2010. There are 398 local authorities in the UK making two the average number of libraries closed per authority.


In St Helens we are closing six, that’s three times as many and nothing the council should be proud of.


He then states that “community groups such as parish councils” can take over the running of the libraries.


He really should know that parish councils are not community groups, they have their own existing responsibilities, of which library provision is not one. 
He blames the government for a lack of money, but when an opportunity does present itself to bring in extra income, such as the recent concert at the Saints ground, they decide to forgo that income and offer free parking, mostly to people who don’t even live in the borough and who would have expected to have to pay for parking anyway.


Andrew Fackey, via email