As an Osterly resident I was glad to see that the Campion House development was again rejected by the council's planning committee.

Both David Pavett and Marcus Adams from the developers are right - the plans are an improvement on what went before, but still not right, especially with regard to the massing of the buildings on the existing back garden of the seminary, and to the lack of family homes.

Part of the problem with this latter issue is that council officers count two-bedroom units as family homes, a definition which is probably out of line with ordinary voters, and underlines the importance of elected members in the democratic process as they tend to cleave more to what ordinary people perceive.

There is increasing national emphasis on creating sustainable and cohesive communities and this needs to be reflected in the type of development that is permitted by local councils at grass roots level.

Cohesion is better served by encouraging families to live in an area for a significant length of time than by encouraging comparatively short term, itinerant residents in a flat-sharing scenario.

IAN SPEED St Mary's Crescent, Osterley.