YOUR report that Councillor Charlie Kay had no idea of the existence of a village where a planning application he was considering was located shows just how defective the decision-making system is at Durham County Council when it comes to planning committees (Echo, July 24).

County Durham is so large that the overwhelming majority of councillors live tens of miles away from any application that they consider. They have no real understanding of the local situation or the impact on local communities.

The area committees (there are three) have 16 members, composed of eight members from within the area and eight from outside on the spurious grounds that this will somehow lead to more uniform decision-making across the whole county. Even the eight in-area members are from parts of what constitutes two or three of the former district council area.

For example, the central and north committee that makes decisions on Durham City has only four members from within the city district, and the rest from miles away.

It is no wonder that residents in Durham City are up in arms about some of the decisions and have less and less confidence in the planning process.

Cllr Kay has lifted the lid at last on a problem that councillors of all parties have been concerned about for a long time. The only way to restore public confidence is to ensure that planning committees actually represent the areas where their decisions have impact.

Councillor Nigel Martin, Pity Me, Durham.