Lost green fields

SIR – Michael Gove (Comment, May 8) may be correct that, in certain parts of the country, a lack of housing for the young is costing his party votes.

However, it is quite clear that in West Oxfordshire the decision to allocate large green-field sites for housing development has lost the Conservatives many votes. It is not necessary to be a Nimby to believe there can come a point when our historic towns and their facilities are overwhelmed, however well new developments are designed. Sadly, Woodstock is an example of this.

Dr Alan Hearne

Woodstock, Oxfordshire

SIR – With the exceptions of Plymouth and Exeter, there were no elections in the whole of Devon and Cornwall.

Had there been, the ever deepening housing crisis caused by rampant second-home ownership would have meant a total rout for the Tories.

You report (May 8) that, among those aged 25-34, home ownership nationally has halved since the 1980s. The situation in the South West is far worse than that.

Simon Cox

Brixham, Devon

SIR – David Vaudrey (Letters, May 8) suggests that the right to buy reduces the number of houses available to rent, but that is only part of the picture.

I helped my parents buy their council house under Margaret Thatcher, meaning that a couple who would otherwise have had to rent for the rest of their lives were removed from the rental market.

They also took over responsibility for all the costs of maintaining their home from the council, and paid appropriate local taxes.

If the capital and revenue generated had been used to build more social housing, the total housing stock would have increased, reducing pressure on both rents and house prices.

Neil Harvey

Villanueva de la Concepción, Málaga, Spain