REGARDING 'Town baulks at 1,500 extra houses' (Hereford Times, August 4), well done, Ross!

I hope other towns and villages in the county will follow your lead and not encourage large estates of speculative housing to be built wherever developers can find a cheap green field.

The figures vary (or it may be that Herefordshire Council’s Local Plan survey has just become too complicated to understand) but a recent total suggests that nearly 17,000 houses are proposed for the next 20 years.

These will not be justified by any significant new or better-paid employment opportunities anywhere in the county.

Moreover, since the infrastructure  and facilities – roads and transport, water and sewage, surgeries, schools and social care – cannot be improved to meet increased demand, all problems will be exacerbated.

The council’s planning department say they have “got to build” these houses.

Why? The need for new 'market value' houses in Herefordshire is negligible and building here will not help to resolve the 'housing crisis' in London one iota.

People who work entirely from home can live anywhere and hybrid workers need good physical connectivity to their offices, which even Hereford cannot offer (people moving out of London for more space have gone 35 miles on average).

Herefordshire needs to rebuild its economy around its rural heritage and not commit to ludicrous targets for unsustainable and unaffordable housing until houses are needed, wherever in the county that may be.

It may be nimbyism to object to one house which obscures your view or your drive; it is not nimbyism to object to 17,000.

JULIA C EVANS
Lyonshall

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