I READ with some amusement the recent article ‘How local is local housing’ (Western Telegraph, February 8).

The Rural and Urban Connection Policy may well have hoped to, and I quote, “ensure social housing in the county contributes to sustaining local communities” yet present legislation especially with regard to unilateral undertaking payments to Pembrokeshire CC seems to actively go against supporting local residents’ housing needs.

The policy appears to penalise local with long standing ties from being able to selfbuild a family home on land belonging to their family yet encourages and seemingly shows far more flexibility to estate developers.

There will always be a need for social housing in West Wales but there are also many situations where families do have some available land, which can gain planning consent, on which their son or daughter can set up a family home of their own.

Surely this is the fundamental way to truly support “stronger local connections”

as the council meeting of November 16 reportedly recommended.

Clearly the Welsh Assembly bill was designed to raise funding to pay for social housing, a laudable aim, yet in the process it is most certainly unjustly punishing many who have family, community and personal ties, i.e.

“strong local connections”, to pay thousands of pounds for their attempts to be proactive in housing their families, thus avoiding being an additional burden on the oversubscribed housing list.

I believe we should be aiming to help and support those who have grown up in our county, who have the opportunity to build yet who have limited funds, rather than forcing them to pay for not only their own home but also, ironically, as assembly policy designed to bring some equality to present housing problems.

The legislation as it stands is neither sustainable nor fair and indeed is punishing the very people it claims to help.

ROBERT SMITH

Roch