Deliver new homes for the many, not the few

WONDERFUL news! The West Midlands Combined Authority has proposed that 6,000 houses should be built near the ring road (Oct 4).

Hopefully they will be for the ordinary folk of Coventry who as yet cannot afford “affordable” homes and whose only option is to rent.

So far it seems that Coventry councillors are intent on catering for students and the more affluent in executive homes on the greenbelt whilst the less fortunate are ignored. To be fair to the councillors, they are not running the show. They are merely carrying out the wishes of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, an organisation I believe is neither democratic or transparent, and is influenced by property developers.

Wonderful news! Both the Conservative and Labour parties now recognise the need for council houses. It has been blindingly obvious for many years that the market cannot deliver sufficient or the appropriate houses for the majority of the British people.

Housing policy has, for many years, been dysfunctional. There is a desperate need for a return to the post-war policy where public and private housing worked together for the common good and it is just possible that there is a political consensus to achieve this.

So I urge Labour councillors to concentrate on brownfield sites and build houses for the many and not for the few. I would urge them to get in touch with the Labour leader of the Cambridge City Council, Lewis Herbert, who spoke so convincingly about the need for council housing at a fringe event at Brighton.

Though executive houses in the greenbelt bring in higher council taxes, there is considerable research to show that these developments have an adverse impact on existing inner city areas of deprivation, as so much infrastructure investment pours into the new developments. At the same time, housing stock for groups, such as young parents, dwindle. So Labour councillors, get your priorities right. As a speaker said at the main Conference, it is a privilege to be a councillor, not a lifetime entitlement. Archie Taylor Kenilworth

Help British firms trade beyond EU

IT IS now perfectly clear that the EU has no interest in providing the UK with a reasonable transition period.

Reticence on the part of the EU negotiators is clearly orchestrated by Germany and France who are openly vying to take over all existing British trading interest.

Even should we negotiate a huge divorce sum, we can be sure that the terms offered by the EU will be unacceptable.

If the bad faith shown by EU negotiators wasn’t enough, the present difficulties in Spain with the Catalonians and in Ireland with the Northern Irish border will create difficulties for the two EU countries, such that either would almost certainly put a spoke in the wheel of progress and forestall any reasonable chance of compromise.

The Government efforts in the next 18 months should be directed towards assisting and enabling trading organisations within Great Britain to expand their activities into the world beyond the EU. Kevin Lynch Westwood Heath

Where have all the decent pubs gone?

OH Coventry, my Coventry, what have they done to you?

I went into my beloved city last Friday for my annual eye check, 11am appointment. Then after into Hinds jewellers where my grandaughter works. Came out, went round the market then sat outside M&S, had lunch – four doughnuts – had a look round.

Where have all the shops gone? Most are boarded up or pound shops. So big Andy went to look for a decent pub to drown his sorrows. Found a good one in The Burges; the only thing wrong is the little black flies coming off the Sherbourne that flows underneath.

Anyway, had a good crack, then caught the bus back to Tile Hill – pubs and clubs all gone. The Fletch, New Star, Canley Club, Jardine Club... Coventry, what have they done to you? Andy McDonald Tile Hill

What about our city’s homeless?

LOVELY to see the beautiful accommodation for students opposite Sainsbury’s.

What about the homeless people living nearby on the streets?

They are not all young people. When you speak to them, you find circumstances have left them homeless. Surely the council can find somewhere for them? What about all the empty houses? F Wright Foleshill