Too many homes swallowing up green fieldsThe story entitled “CPRE Devon worries about new homes swallowing fields” appeared in the Courier on Friday, April 5 issues 1236.

The Devon branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) recently hosted a seminar in Exeter which was attended by the MP Kit Malthouse, Minister for Housing and Planning.

The aim of the CPRE’s seminar was to raise the issue of the number of new homes swallowing up Devon’s countryside.

The local conservation charity last year commissioned a report by a leading research company, which showed that more new homes are being built in Devon than are needed and that too few of them are affordable or sustainable.

The Minister was expected to respond to this evidence and people’s concerns but many attendees were said they were disappointed and frustrated when he admitted that he hadn’t read the report and failed to address key concerns about the lack of infrastructure such as transport links, employment, schools and health facilities.

He also failed to address the fact that the government has used flawed and outdated methodology in calculating new housing figures.

For more information visit: www.cpre.org.uk .

The CPRE think that too few new homes built in Devon are affordable or sustainable – what do you think?What you told us ...I agree that too few new homes are affordable or sustainable. I think we need to build more affordable homes especially for our young people. And there is no consideration for the infrastructure, things like the doctors and schools. These houses are not affordable for people in this area. We end up with people moving here and the young still have nowhere to live. What we need is more houses to rent. When the council houses were sold off many people thought that the money would be re-invested in building more houses to rent. It is very wrong!Brenda Webb. Sandford Too many Greenfield sites are being used to build houses. We are losing all our green spaces that we use for walking and being out in the fresh air. I don’t think we need that many new homes. It’s getting overcrowded and the infrastructure can’t cope.Mandy Rowe, Crediton I agree with the CPRE the government is vastly overstating the number of houses needing to be built. Big builders come in and put in an application for a larger number of houses than required - the number then drops, but still exceeds the number needed. It’s difficult for local authorities because of cuts to staff numbers but they do not implement our policies. At Pedlarspool they are allowing Gleesons to exceed by 25 per cent. There are so many young people who need housing - but it needs it to be affordable to the area,Elizabeth Dalton, Sandford