Sir – As a Barton resident, I find it quite extraordinary that the chairman of Oxford Civic Society should claim (Letters, February 2) that trees at Barton play no role in screening us from light and noise pollution along the A40. Where does he live?

As soon as I get round the Barton corner I am in a different, quieter, more peaceful world which gives on to the countryside beyond. Barton is a large village in character, with its quiet streets, green spaces, many gardens, country views and walks, mature trees and mostly restful nights. It is precisely this rural character that the area action plan pledged to maintain and build on.

Instead, in a very rushed, ill-considered meeting, the council has adopted the preferred option of building houses along the ring road, scrapping our wildlife park, chopping down mature trees, cutting into our statutory allotment site and disrupting our sports ground and recreational facilities.

There were very strong local objections to these ‘preferred’ options; local people got together a petition to save the wildlife park, no one here believes that exposing us to light and noise pollution and housing a bunch of people along a busy ring road will somehow ‘integrate’ us with the rest of Oxford.

It might be more to the point to treat Barton residents as if our views and our quality of life mattered. The council prefers to pursue a designer’s fantasy.

We can only assume that the ‘consultation’ process is a bad joke and that decisions have already been made and deals have already been done, in contempt of local residents’ views and in defiance of any transparent planning process. Two cheers for democracy.

Verity Hawkes, Barton, Oxford