Social housing must be made a priority

I hope that when Ashford Borough Council reviews the planning applications for all those new homes (Council reveals 12,000 new homes vision for borough, KE, June 9), they ensure that the developers include a lot more 1 and 2 bedroom properties for those at the bottom of the housing ladder. There’s an awful lot of three to five-bedroom places being built, which is nice for the developers (or buy-to-let owners) profit margins – but they don’t meet the rapidly increasing demand for housing from those who either cannot afford, or do not require, a huge property – ie school leavers, single people, workers on low incomes (including part-time, shift work or zero hour contracts) and retired couples.

The council needs to ensure there is a decent proportion of one and twobedroom social housing included – for people who are unable to meet private rental rates. Chris Staddon Ashford