3:10pm Wednesday 17th June 2009
SIR — The problems facing housing policy in Winchester are rather more complex than David Atwell (Chronicle letters June 11) suggests.
As he says, the waiting list in the district for so-called affordable homes now stands at 3,200.
It is likely to rise by about 100 a year over the rest of the planning period to 2026, during which time some 8,500 new dwellings are supposed to be built. If 40 per cent were to be affordable, to clear the waiting list and new additions to it would require 4,900 of the 8,500 homes to be affordable, or 58 per cent of the total.
That is quite unrealistic: the building industry could not operate viably with an open market proportion at little over 40 per cent — quite apart from the fact that the current recession will see output fall well below the planned annual average for the whole of the period from 2008 to 2013 or beyond.
On the other hand, to keep the affordable homes proportion at 40 per cent and still clear the backlog by 2026 would mean having to provide 12,250 new homes in total between now and 2026 — 44 per cent above the present aim.
That is even less attainable.
Planners have still to learn that putting numbers on paper does not build homes.
Harvey R Cole, Clifton Road, Winchester.
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