‘Empty’ houses

SIR – It is not true that there are “millions” of empty houses in Britain (Letters, March 7).

I’m a small developer and have tried to buy such properties and renovate them. Once you strip out second homes, sites owned by companies as a development site or for other projects, houses taking a long time to sell and those belonging to the recently deceased or people living abroad on long vacations or work contracts, the councils’ Empty Homes Register drops to a trickle of properties that could be brought back into occupation.

It is true, however, that it is very hard and expensive for small builders to find land for new-build housing. The coalition government blocked new-builds in back gardens by renaming them “greenfield”, and councils’ Local Plans blatantly favour large estates: they make no attempt to support local builders or self-builders and their suppliers.

Seeking planning permission, with its myriad of reports and conditions, is time-consuming and costly, and councils impose punitive infrastructure taxes. In Wokingham, for example, the Community Infrastructure Levy is charged at £365 per square metre of new house (only £35 less than in Chelsea), and across the borough, irrespective of final value. This means that most newbuilds on small sites are not viable.

Meanwhile, 11,500 houses on four new estates have been allocated to large landowners and national housebuilders, with predictable results: high density, tiny gardens, monotonous layout and design, and boring aesthetics. Antony Atkins

Reading, Berkshire