SIR - The outburst from Labour Councillor Shabir Hussain, who chairs the Bradford Area Planning Panel, stating that members should stand down if they are opposed to the idea of retrospective planning applications simply beggars belief, and does him no credit at all (T&A, October 4).

Bradford is blighted with an unacceptable volume of such applications, and it really is time that the majority were turned aside to get the message across that PRIOR permission is required before any work is commenced.

Further, there really should be substantial additional fees for all retrospective applications for the same reason. They may currently be legally permissible, but they have got utterly out of hand.

Councillor Hussain's intervention is totally unhelpful, and is shamefully waving the white flag in favour of retrospective applications. It is he who should be standing down. His stance is doing our city a great dis-service.

Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon