Sir – In the Witney Gazette on June 25, you reported on an alleged consultation event held by Sharba Homes in Milton-under-Wychwood Village Hall.

This event certainly did not constitute a consultation, as no questions were answered and we were invited to leave comments on post-it notes. However, we were treated to a bowl of sweets.

This development for 75 houses is in the corner of a two-field site of 31.4 acres, on which Sharba Homes has taken an option.

At this stocking density, the site could extend to 400 houses, increasing the size of Milton by nearly 50 per cent As a country we import over 50 per cent of the food we eat.

Every acre of agricultural land is precious. Every acre taken out of production increases our imports, from places like Africa where people are starving and adds to our balance of payments deficit.

We totally concur with Brian Milton’s views in his letter in the same issue of the Gazette, as we face the same problems in Milton with landowners and developers set to make a fortune, while residents have to pay either directly or indirectly.

The estimated 506 million EU citizens have the right to live anywhere in the EU, so why does West Oxfordshire have to lose its “food factories”, when houses could be built on less productive land elsewhere?

Andrew and Christine Hale, Upper Milton, Milton-under-Wychwood