SIR: It seems quite idiotic to propose a new town of 5,000 houses ruining the countryside between Oliver's Battery and Hursley when Cala Homes have not built anything like the 2,000 houses at Barton Farm; at the latest count it stands at about 300. One could hazard a guess on why it is proceeding so slowly: no one has the money to pay £530,000 for a small terraced house of less than 1,500 square feet sitting an inconvenient two miles out of town. Assuming a buyer can get a loan of about three times their salary these prospective purchasers are going to need a combined income of in excess of £170,000 to buy one of these houses.

Quite aside from blighting the countryside and swamping local services, until prices reconnect with earnings it is ridiculous to plan to build another huge housing estate because there will not be the buyers to afford it. The UK housing market bubble will burst once the shrinking pool of buyers with large deposits dries up and then one can imagine the greedy developers and land owners will find the idea of 5,000 houses much less appetising. When it does burst the city council needs to focus on building affordable, accessible homes that the people of Winchester need including homes for the elderly to downsize in to within their local area instead of constantly infilling with large expensive houses.

Pip Billington,

Kingsgate Road,

Winchester