FIRSTLY, I welcome the fact that after almost 40 years of the endless mantra of home ownership and little else, the Conservative Government have finally woken up to the fact that some people will never be able to afford to own a home.

I am a bit more concerned that the other mantra, build more and use open spaces and green belt to do it, is still there.

You could build on every last inch of green belt, or build more high rise, and still have the problems we have now unless we start to build what is needed by people, rather than what developers want to maximise their profits.

Sadly, council housing is still an anathema to those on the right, but a bit of money spent on building council houses available at affordable rents will repay itself many times over in the future in less housing benefit, and people who will be able to support themselves on real world wages.

It was estimated in an article last week that average wages in Poole would have to increase by 212% before people could afford to buy locally. That just isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

Like many of today’s problems, if governments put aside their political prejudices, stopped playing to the gallery with half baked short term gimmicks, and decided that investing in the future wasn’t a dirty phrase, we might start to see improvements to people’s lives and a much better long term outlook.

At the moment we are straining at the more minor problems often blown out of proportion by the press and not addressing the big ones like housing, climate change and the need to properly fund our health and social care. “A stitch in time saves nine,” so they say.

Get the sowing needles out.

TONY TRENT

Fraser Road, Poole

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