Plain snobbery

No affordable homes, so PJ Livesey will just build lots of unaffordable homes. (No affordable homes for St James’ site, March 25) I have never been able to really get to grips with this stupid expression and suggestion that you have both affordable and, unaffordable homes. The old bitter PIL, or perceived income level, maybe.

Whatever it is, it’s just plain snobbery, ‘we only want a certain type of person with an income level of – and you don’t quite fit the bill’.

Unaffordable, not for some obviously. I should really feel sorry for Mr James Woodmansee and his companies (yes, it is right) struggles to turn a penny or two, but I don’t. On a personal level the man has held 50 directorships but is now only active in 36 companies.

The housing market is nothing more than a national scandal.

Turning a home into a commodity just moved the idea of private ownership into a feeding trough for so many.

Just look back a few years when a house was valued at say £100k, two months later, £110k.

Prices were mainly driven by the greed of anybody that could get in on the act. No justification, ‘market forces’ or forced market.

Sites such as St James, many ex-MoD sites, and those that were areas in public/government ownership, should never have been allowed to get into private hands.

These were national assets and should have been used to benefit the whole nation.

I see this situation now as nothing less than what has happened in Russia with state-owned valuables being sold off. St James will just be another victim to this privatised leeching arrangement.

B Nevill Gosport

Prices were mainly driven by the greed of anybody that could get in on the act B NEVILL