Sir.-The forced resignation of Phil Heath from his position on the county council's Cabinet is callous and anti-democratic.

His "crime" is to represent his ward interests, reflecting his constituents' overwhelming view that they do not want the Manydown land destroyed by development.

The Manydown land is, of course, partly owned by the county council.

What the leader of Hampshire County Council appears to have done is to say to Phil Heath "You behave on the borough council as I dictate or I will sack you from your position on the county council".

He has no right to do that. Neither has the county any right to dictate to Basingstoke what fields must be developed here.

The county council's planning role is to paint with a broad brush. It is the borough council's role to determine which specific fields will or will not be developed.

The county council's only legitimate interest in Manydown is as the joint owner of the land.

The county should recognise how dubious it looks when it pushes out a county councillor unless he agrees to vote to develop the land that the county owns and from which it stands to make money.

Phil Heath knew that he stood to lose his £15,000-a-year position by speaking out against Manydown. To his great credit, he stuck to his principles.

The people of Basingstoke should know that the county council has been hell-bent on developing Manydown ever since, in 1995, it published its planning intentions and blatantly printed a photograph of the Manydown land on the front cover.

Many people believe that this whole Manydown business stinks to high heaven.

And it's a smell that is made worse when a councillor is sacked for standing up for his constituents' views - in other words, doing the job for which he was elected.

-Stephen Reid, Chairman, Save Manydown Group, Basingstoke.