FOLLOWING your comment on the housing situation in your editorial column last week on page six (December 22), I feel I must write to agree with a lot of your comments.

You are quite right to highlight the ridiculous situation that the Government put us in by releasing the housing figures for the South East of England only 24 hours before the SERPLAN meeting (SERPLAN represents the 138 authorities throughout the South East).

This did not allow us to consider the document in detail. Indeed many of the authorities picked up their copies on the way into the meeting. No way to run a government, definitely not the way to treat local democracy and I only wish that it was coincidence.

Your column also states that there is an urgent need for homes in the county of Buckinghamshire and therefore it was with great relief we welcomed the figures that related to Buckinghamshire.

I say this as we had already calculated the need for these houses for the indigenous population and their children and the figure we were given was exactly the one that we had calculated.

So I agree with the Bucks Free Press that we have a duty to reflect that need and these proposals allow us to fulfil that duty.

We must now make sure in the six weeks consultation (until February 12, 2001) that we defend that figure and it is not allowed to be increased by the pressures of other counties trying to reduce theirs.

County Cllr Bill Chapple

Deputy Leader of the

Council

Glenfield Close

Chiltern Park