AFTEr a long career in the provision of good housing I read with interest your coverage of the latest housing proposal in Malvern, and the three anti-development letters which as usual filled much of your letters page.

I don’t feel able to comment on the specific merits of that proposal but I think I can confidently assert the following.

First, very few readers will write in to champion the interests of those 150 households who would benefit from good new housing in an area of their choice.

Second, no one will send in proposals of alternative sites where 150 homes could be built.

I made the train journey from Malvern to Bristol last week, and the view from the train reminded me how many homes were built in the 60s and 70s on the outskirts of towns and cities, and near the railway tracks, in an era when the growth of the number of households was much smaller than currently.

I wonder a) how many of those homes would have been stopped if the current level of opposition to development had prevailed then; b) how many of those who live in those homes now oppose development near them; c) whether any of them have like me, children and grandchildren adversely affected by the chronic and massive shortage of housing that has developed since the late 70s.

Isn’t it time we all saw the bigger picture regarding housing development ?

Steve Smart

Malvern