I WRITE in response to P Howard’s letter (Oxford Mail, August 1) calling for the ‘farce’ concerning the county council and Waterstock Golf Course to be brought to a close.

He or she may be pleased to know that the end is now almost in sight, with substantial jail sentences having been meted out – so serious was its view of the Wyatt brothers’ illegal behaviour. We now await the outcome of an appeal against those sentences.

Your correspondent is also right to raise the issue of public resources being used to pursue this matter.

However, the court has ordered the Wyatts to pay all the council’s reasonable costs, in addition to legal fees already recovered on behalf of the taxpayer from previous proceedings.

The planning and regulation committee has been kept informed of all the proceedings throughout this long process.

The need for such prolonged legal action was, of course, entirely due to the Wyatt brothers repeatedly ignoring court orders to remove the thousands of tonnes of illegally-dumped waste from Green Belt land next to their golf course.

I hope P Howard isn’t suggesting the authorities similarly ignore their legal obligation to crack down on those who flout the law so brazenly?

STEPHEN HAYWARD (Cllr) Chairman of Oxfordshire County Council ’s Planning and Regulation Committee