New homes

With only 2,600 built since 2011 (just 520 a year) that looks very ambitious. It is also very misleading if any of it includes student accommodation, which is about all I see being built. The Fruit Market site is, I thought, to include some student accommodation, not to mention adjacent to it in Back Of The Walls, a large student complex is nearly complete and the nearby (if ever built) lower East Street saga will have some. And there’s lots of others. No wonder our owner occupier ratio is so low.

Perhaps they will repeat the Centenary Quay trick. Give planning permission for shops and restaurants, to hook our interest, then later grant change of use for flats instead, thus helping meet housing targets.

With these figures looking highly dubious in themselves, less than a week later they abandon the Millbrook regeneration scheme, citing also dubious reasons.

This scheme included a lot of new housing, so there is even less likelihood of anywhere near 8,000 now being achieved. They would have known a week ago about this, so why announce that figure at all? Flimflam and spin. All this on top of even more nonsense regarding speed reductions on Millbrook Road.

Frankly I do not believe a word this council says nor that they have this city’s interests, or its residents at heart.

Phil Woodward, Millbrook