Ms Pauline Foster:

It is extremely stressful. To a large extent, people are putting their own homes and families at risk. They are trying to work and raise small children, and the whole thing becomes unbelievably complicated. Initially the drive from residents is very strong and the money comes in, but then there comes a point when they think, "Oh Christ, what can we do here. We are going to be stuck. Have we done the right thing and so on?"

I believe that a lot of hysteria has built up in planning because of SHDs. I thank God that the SHDs have gone. That process has set everybody against each other in a huge way that is unacceptable. I hope that the new large-scale residential developments, LRDs, rules will go some way to adjusting this back to some form of good democracy.

On the meetings side of things, the timescales could be increased and perhaps six weeks would be better. By the time we get our notice from the council of planning we then have to decide whether we are going to do something as a committee. Then we have to convene a public meeting. Then we must get down to writing a submission. We are all working as well, so this timeline is very restrictive. From that point of view, longer timescales and less bureaucratic tying of our hands behind our backs would be much better appreciated.