No more new building

Reading a recent report from a meeting of the district housing cabinet, one gets the impression that the only factor concerning them is the availability of land to build on. It is no surprise that the land supply is '˜slipping' '“ has nobody told them that once land gets built on, it is not there any more?

Janet Duncton seemed to take the whole thing on herself by speaking in the first person about not wanting to concrete over more land than she had to.

There is no surfeit of jobs in this area, and although council members mentioned infastructure in passing, how far can demands on the hospital, sewers, schools etc be stretched? Let alone our congested roads.

I believe no more new building should take place until derelict sites and empty properties have been used.

Also one wonders how many new houses in the area are destined to be second homes for non-local people. One cause of a long waiting list for council houses is the practice of selling them to sitting tenants at a low price instead of encouraging those wishing to own their own homes to buy on the general market, thus depleting the number of houses available to rent which cannot be replaced.

This area of Sussex is primarily agricultural and any further expansion of the population would be disastrous to its balance and character.

J Barratt

West Walberton Lane,

Walberton