SIR – The unrealistic housing demands being imposed on local councils could be ameliorated if the explicit requirement were for terraced houses, and low-rise flats. These would require less land, and would answer the need for low-cost housing – and prevent yet more agricultural land being lost to developers’ “executive homes”.
Britain is fortunate in having the climate and the fertile land to grow our own food. Farmers need far greater support, through grants and subsidies, if we are to prevent them from selling up to developers. But it is a disaster for a small island with an expanding population to cover its agricultural fields with houses, or with wind farms, and then be faced with costly imports of energy, and of food from countries with lower standards.
The latest government plans will deprive us of food security, and also of reliable sources of power. Not a good start to the new regime.
L F Buckland
Iwerne Minster, Dorset
SIR – It would be comforting to know whether the following concerns about the Government’s housebuilding target have been addressed.
Will the electricity grid be able to supply power to these additions to the grid?
Is the supply chain ready to meet building demands?
Will water companies be able to supply enough water, and will the sewage created be controllable?
Will all the necessary infrastructure – such as roads, shops, recreation facilities, GPs’ surgeries and dentists’ surgeries – be built at the same time?
Finally, will there be more landfills created?
I have my doubts but would like to be pleasantly surprised.
John Williams
Heywood, Wiltshire
SIR – Having read the reports (August 10) about the use of some of the many empty high-street and commercial premises by criminals for cannabis farming, I am led to wonder why planning rules could not be amended to enable and encourage developers to convert these properties to residential use, particularly for social housing.
It would reinvigorate town centres and there wouldn’t be the same infrastructure concerns as there are for new developments on the outskirts of towns and villages.
H Gelder
Rugby, Warwickshire
SIR – The problem with new developments is often the abysmal quality of the developers’ plans.
We fought a “Poundland Canary Wharf” development on a tiny footprint around Finchley Central Tube station car park on those grounds, bringing forward alternative, built schemes to show what could be done. So often, it’s not NIMBY – a tired, lazy slur – but NTIMBY – Not That In My Back Yard.
Rob White
London N3
Rioters sentenced
SIR – Following the latest protests throughout the country, the media have been quick to praise the anti-far-Right protesters and the numbers of police who were utilised to keep the peace. Those may have been contributory factors for the de-escalation of violence but they are not the whole picture.
When eight gang members, armed with offensive weapons, rioted outside a court of law in 1911, they were collectively sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment. After 16 gangsters caused mayhem at Lewes racecourse in 1936, they received a total of 43½ years’ imprisonment. In both cases, crime of that nature dropped dramatically thereafter.
Similarly, the swingeing sentences imposed on three of the rioters at Liverpool Crown Court last Wednesday have been the main factor behind the decrease in violence.
Dick Kirby
Great Whelnetham, Suffolk
SIR – In the early 14th century, in response to the severe breakdown of law and order in England, King Edward I issued the Ordinance of Trailbastons in April 1305.
This meant that commissioners could bring together juries and reach verdicts on those they arrested, considerably speeding up the judicial process.
Sir Keir Starmer may share Edward’s anger at the “outrages” of these criminals, which he said “flouted” his lordship and “were like the beginning of civil war”.
Fortunately for the Prime Minister, in 2024, he does not have Robert the Bruce north of the border and the politics of Gascony are no longer his concern. However, the nation’s finances are just as dire.
Dr Charlie Daniels
Torquay, Devon
Honoured Olympians
SIR – As the Olympic athletes return from their deserved success in France, there will be a clamour for many to receive a state award at home. Sadly, the only current award is within the Order of the British Empire, which might reasonably be judged as inappropriate.
With a new monarch enthroned, it is time for a new Order to be created which acknowledges achievement across a wide range of endeavour and which speaks for a modern country and its community.
Colin Cummings
Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire
SIR – The athletes competing in the Games deserve our support and congratulations, but did they deserve the shame of having to wear those tracksuits when collecting their medals?
Most athletes looked very smart on the podium except for ours, who looked like a badly tied parcel. This took some of the shine off a defining moment in their lives.
Mike Sutcliffe
Dalkeith, Midlothian
No place like it
SIR – My favourite house name (Letters, August 10) is Osocosy, seen in Devon.
Isabel Wood
Barnoldswick, Lancashire
SIR – I once received a letter from a Mr Donald Duck, who lived at “The Old Swan”.
I loved that, but even more I loved the fact that the treasurer’s department of the former Berkshire county council had two secretaries: a Mrs Thrift and a Miss Needy.
Clive Williams
Upper Basildon, Berkshire
Teaching how to think
SIR – Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, wants critical thinking skills taught in schools in order to “arm” pupils against “putrid conspiracy theories” (report, August 11).
But is she reinventing the wheel? Harold Macmillan recalled the comment of one of his lecturers at Oxford made more than a century ago: “Nothing you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you in after life – save only this: that if you work hard and diligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole purpose, of education.”
Dr Denis Cruse
Lamberhurst, Kent
The volunteer army
SIR – Your Money section (August 10) focuses on an elderly woman who has gone back to work because she wants to “feel useful”.
I am a retired woman who regularly volunteers at fundraising events for two local hospices: one for adults and the other for children, both suffering from terminal illnesses. I can assure you that I feel totally “useful” and am proud to be able to help families who are so often ignored by whichever government is in power.
I would ask you to talk to hospices and charities throughout Britain. I am sure you will be astonished at the significant amounts of money that are saved by the actions of volunteers such as I – money that can then be channelled into equipment and additional employees.
Just because we are not receiving a wage, that does not mean we are not making a financial contribution to the well-being of people in this country.
L J Hale
Worthing, West Sussex
Can’t stop the feline
SIR – We and the neighbours have a very practical arrangement when it comes to giving a cat a good home (Letters, August 10).
A handsome fluffy black cat appeared after lockdown, and despite our best efforts none of us has been able to find his owner, so several of us simply look after him. He answers to various names, including Cat-Cat, Geoff and Shadow, and wanders around eating and sleeping wherever he likes.
If any of us are away we know he’ll be well cared for at somebody else’s house. A perfect arrangement for his health and welfare and our peace of mind.
Kate Graeme-Cook
Brixham, Devon
The bridge, the walrus and the glass museum
![Covering agricultural land with houses and wind farms courts disaster (1) Covering agricultural land with houses and wind farms courts disaster (1)](https://i0.wp.com/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/opinion/2024/08/11/TELEMMGLPICT000389382689_17233955887690_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq5c10dq0dGUIhCIasP1wj9VHwtdpQwyNje2OyIL7x97s.jpeg?imwidth=350)
SIR – How dispiriting but accurate was Christopher Howse’s assessment of Sunderland (Features, August 7). Indeed I experienced all that last year when I visited to trace Lewis Carroll, who holidayed nearby.
However Mr Howse missed the Empire Theatre, a fine ornate building in which many famous players performed, from Charlie Chaplin to Sid James (who died on the stage). The article also failed to mention the museum where Lewis Carroll visited and where he is commemorated by the stuffed mounted head of a walrus (no carpenter): just the head as all else, I learnt, became moth-eaten. Nor did Mr Howse mention the fine green bridge over the River Wear, nor the Glass Museum.
I shall not be returning.
James Gibson
Quorn, Leicestershire
Return of the ring – more than two decades on
SIR – Reading about Louise Boxhall’s lost and found engagement ring (Letters, August 3) reminded me of an experience my grandmother had on honeymoon in Mustique in 1927.
Her engagement ring was lost on the beach and, despite a week-long search, was never found. In 1952 my grandparents celebrated their Silver Wedding with a second honeymoon in Mustique, and within five minutes of arriving on the beach my grandmother found the now heavily encrusted ring. We still have the local police station confirmation notice of “case closed”.
David Cook
Farnborough, Hampshire
SIR – Twenty four years ago, while on honeymoon, my husband was snorkeling and saw something glinting in the sand below. He dived to retrieve it and found it was a simple wedding band – his own. He didn’t know he’d lost it. Five years later we were crewing a racing boat in the North Sea and he was on foredeck duty. The helm at the stern picked up what he thought was a piece of metal rigging. I recognised said wedding band. It had somehow worked its way down the length of the boat without ending up in the choppy water.
My husband finally managed to rid himself of the ring within the relatively secure confines of a hockey pitch. We are still married.
Ruth Sleigh
Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire
SIR – We were not long married when my wife temporarily lost her wedding ring. This happened on a glacier in Switzerland where we were throwing snowballs at each other – the ring flew off her hand.
She carefully retraced the flight direction of the snowball and found the ring at the bottom of a narrow foot-deep hole in the snow. Relief all round.
René Tayar
Tadworth, Surrey
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