I read with some disbelief the article about West Dorset District Council aiming to protect West Dorset’s most picturesque villages with new conservation areas (‘It’s just beautiful, so let’s keep it that way’, Echo, April 30).

Having recently attended a West Dorset planning appeals committee and seen how these decisions are reached on development within existing conservation area’s, I do hope the residents of Chilforme, Seatown, Buckland Newton etc are not getting their hopes too high.

There is not a lot of conservation, protection, preserving or enhancing going on within the existing conservation areas of West Dorset. The description means nothing.

I urge them to take a look at Martinstown, which has had a large conservation area within it since 1990 and look at some of the decisions that have been made by the planning committee that have affected this area over the years.

Martinstown Parish Council has complained about the catalogue of bad decisions but they have fallen on deaf ears.

New development has been certainly still been allowed within the so called Martinstown conservation area. Trees have been removed and a variety of good and bad extensions to Grade II listed buildings added.

It seems that if the drawings look pretty they get passed, with no reference to the surrounding area or visual impact.

The visual impact is decided purely by looking at a plan drawing and a few well-chosen photographs.

So do not rest easy, people of Dorset, if your villages have a conservation area status placed within them. The developers can always overcome these slight inconveniences.

Martinstown resident, address supplied.