If I was given 20p every time I wrote a piece saying that people are going to be consulted about something proposed by a local authority or organisation, whether it be about taxes, the latest council vision statement, or the reorganisation of the health service, the money would probably keep me in cups of office coffee for the rest of my working life.

The latest consultation was the postal survey which asked 3.8 million people living in south east England from Kent to Buckinghamshire how many homes a year should be built in the region over the next 20 years.

It was the biggest consultation exercise ever carried out in the region according to the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) which sent out a catchily-titled pamphlet, Your Shout, about its plans. The results are now out.

About 60,000 people replied and of the three housing options they were given 25,500, 28,000 and 32,000 new homes more people wanted 25,500 than the two others.

It was hard enough for elected members of the regional assembly to get this lowest figure into the consultation document, but now one wonders why they bothered.

SEERA officers think the figure is too low and seem determined to bump the number up as high as possible while the government has told assembly members the figures are far too low. It would prefer 36,000 a year apparently.

The regional assembly, when it meets on July 13, is being told that 28,900 homes a year is the right figure. Consultation seems to have been a bit hollow.

Why are the people who replied being ignored?

The answer because they are too old, according to a report on the replies to the consultation Of the 60,000 replies, 43 per cent were from people who have retired, whereas only 24 per cent of the population in the south east are retired folk. And only one per cent of people aged under 24 replied to Your Shout, whereas younger people are actually 12 per cent of the population The officers' report points out the blindingly obvious that people who respond to consultation documents are likely to be self selecting, are more likely to be people who feel passionately about the issues and especially are more likely to be people who are opposed to the proposals.

So their views are not necessarily representative of the general opinion of all the people in the south east say the officers.

Fortunately for them, they also arranged for 2,000 face-to-face interviews with a cross section of the population to be carried out by Mori. The replies to this were more evenly split.

The report may be right and retired people may have absolutely the wrong idea about what is right for Buckinghamshire in the next 20 years .

But if that was always going to be the case why bother sending out 3.8 million consultation papers in the first place and telling people their views would be taken into account? Why not end the pretence that people's views matter and just be honest?