IT is good to see a local councillor listening to the views of local residents on the increasing amount of development in the Andover area. (Cllr Nigel Long ‘Views sought on 200 more homes’).

I understood that the whole point of releasing more land for housing was to make it more affordable.

In fact there is no evidence that this is happening at all.

The prices for the houses being built are, in the main, higher than those for existing older houses, so we are experiencing a massive expansion of housing without, as Cllr Long rightly states, a commensurate improvement in facilities such as play parks.

You cannot go on forever building on more and more agricultural land – eventually it will run out.

The real need in Andover is for jobs that pay more than the minimum wage so that young people can buy the innumerable properties that are available.

There are a huge number of graduates in Andover who are back with their parents on minimum wage and saddled with massive debt.

This is the real problem not a shortage of houses.

Maureen Treadwell, Meadow View, Chilbolton