It is not true to say that council planners need to find more countryside for 3,400 houses, to cope with the growth of the town over the next 13 years (Adver, Have a say on how town should grow, Nov 11).
Land is earmarked for building an additional 9,000 new homes in the countryside to the north and south of Swindon while there are estimates that, at least, 3,000 homes could be built on brownfield sites. With a current building rate of 800 new houses a year in Swindon, that will keep house-builders busy for about 15 years. In addition, there were about 1,573 empty homes at the last count.
What is criminal is that there are 5,715 people on Swindon's council house waiting list this summer and 400 are homeless.
In 2002, the price of the average four to five room dwelling (excludes bathrooms) was estimated at £119,702 in Swindon (above the national average). The average household income in Swindon was £32,510 (below the national average) which means that even relatively well-off families would struggle to buy an average-priced house.
National house developers don't build homes for those most in need and neither do the Government. The situation is sick and not getting any better.
Jean Saunders
Longcot
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