THE government’s controversial Housing and Planning Bill is currently making its way through parliament.

They want to boost home ownership and levels of house building, at their lowest in peacetime since 1924.

With the average property price in the South East at over £341,000 it’s hard enough for high earners. The government bill may well help those with high income but for those on low incomes – impossible.

Add to this the lack of a Local Plan from TVBC to support building affordable homes and we can see Andover is left vulnerable to developers. For example developers not building on land so that through excessive demand they see pre-build prices sky-rocket.

I firmly believe that a good stock of socially affordable homes is a necessity for local people in Andover.

The future of such housing is under threat and we’ll all live in a poorer community without it.

Local homes to meet the needs of local people – there’s an idea! Sadly I think we will be waiting a very long time!

Richard Rowles, Andover Town Council