Your headline “Call to Tackle Housing Crisis – One in four purchases is for a second home” completely undermines WDDC’s published case for 3,500 new homes in Dorchester.

The reason provided by the Tory councillors who govern Dorchester from the geographical safety of its surrounding villages, is that ‘Norbury’ will be needed to house workers for a forthcoming ‘boom’ in the local economy; the same flawed judgement made by a Tory Cabinet which decided some years ago that we needed more shops.

That turned out to be a titanic ‘kiss of death’ since half of the ones that existed then have since closed down.

Perhaps, having lost that battle, WDDC is now attempting to prove it was actually ahead of public opinion by doubling Dorchester’s population?

The developers and landowners in this latest ‘gold rush’ have obviously influenced WDDC to overlook the most relevant fact which is that during a 10-year period of global stagnation, Poundbury has continued to ‘gobble up’ the countryside with sales of houses to ageing retirees and second-home purchasers. Their prices are irrelevant, some flats cost millions.

Selling up in the Home Counties where oligarchs have inflated prices and moving here with a significant ‘nest-egg’ provides an insatiable housing market and very few truly affordable houses are built here; “affordable” means being able to buy or rent without State aid.

Not content with making capital gains, some landlords abuse the situation by evicting tenants in order to raise future rents knowing Social Services will pick up the bill.

Planning for the future housing needs of the town has invariably been made on the basis of the number of builds sold in previous years rather than by just accommodating Dorchester’s organic growth.

In mathematical terms, this is described as a ‘loop’ system.

Loudspeaker systems go out of control in the same way when ‘feedback’ finds its way back to the microphone and establishes a ‘loop’ when everything goes round and round in a magnifying crescendo and deafens the audience with uncontrollable shrieks.

It’s nothing like a council meeting. There’s no discussion and no noise there; it’s not permitted!

When the type and number of houses to be built is determined almost entirely by the number already sold, local needs are lost in false aims.

Any new development should be limited to this an ‘affordable’ imperative and should be spread evenly around West Dorset.

Like Poundbury, this latest imposition threatens the whole character and integrity of Dorchester, never mind its infrastructure.

Most importantly, it fails to tackle the real problem-homelessness. We must battle against the tide of greed which is lapping at our ankles.

MIKE JOSLIN

Dorchester