Sir, – Farnham should achieve considerable benefits from the British Nature's efforts to protect local endangered species and their habitat. We all have to live somewhere, and it is inevitable that Farnham will have to accept additional homes. There has recently been immense pressure to increase the density of building in the town and this is bound to not only add to traffic congestion, but also put damaging pressure on public open spaces. The moves by English Nature require some form of "mitigation" of these pressures, before any new developments will be allowed within five kilometres of Specially Protected Areas, some of which are near Farnham. "Mitigation" is not yet fully defined, but recent press reports suggest that it may take the form of an £800 planning fee per potential occupier of each new dwelling, and these funds would be used to "enhance dog walking facilities in Farnham Park"! Are we mad? This is a trivial sop. We should be taking this opportunity to create a truly significant and beneficial masterplan. Land owners and developers must be splitting their sides with laughter at this derisory level of fee. A planning approval is worth tens of thousands of pounds per bedroom to a landowner/developer. Real "mitigation" can only come from allocating seriously large extra tracts of land as parks or wild amenity space. This £800 fee needs to be £8,000 per bedroom at least. Landowners and developers could easily pay this from their windfall planning gains. Farnham would not only get places for people to live, but these funds must be made to make a realistic difference for everyone by adding significantly to locally available recreational amenity land. If we need build only 30 homes per year in the relevant areas, over the next 10 years the available funds could, and should, be several million pounds. This should buy enough amenity land around our town to add at least another "Farnham Park" equivalent for everyone's enjoyment, and provide green areas that developers can not touch without our agreement, and further major "mitigation" fees? Reasonable forecasting and modest mortgages could make this happen now. Why are we wasting such an opportunity? A C Wright, Echo Barn Lane, Farnham