Ambridge Jams

SIR – The episode of The Archers last Friday evening, in which Emma Grundy expressed frustration over not being able to secure a home for her family, underlined a major problem facing young just-about-managing (Jam) families, particularly those living in rural communities where there is a severe shortage of affordable homes, either to buy or to rent.

The policy of encouraging councils to sell off their housing stock is the main culprit – especially as local authorities were not allowed to use those housing receipts to replace lost stock, never mind meet increasing demand.

If Emma thinks that the answer is to encourage yet another developer to build more houses in Ambridge, of which some will be what is termed “affordable”, she really has been hoodwinked.

Outside the London area, the definition of affordable is somewhere in the region of £250,000. This is hardly affordable for many couples today.

What is needed now (and has been needed since 1980) is a massive increase in houses being built by the public sector for rent. Then this housing might be described as affordable and secure.

Those who expect the private sector to do that are – as Chris Carter suggested in the programme – living in cloud cuckoo land. Michael Knights

Shotesham St Mary, Norfolk