SIR - Further to your article on the planning application at Tipton St John. Although there was a near unanimous agreement for the refusing of this planning application at the Parish council meeting in Tipton St John, there were some questions raised on the subject of affordable housing which, through this letter, I would like to explore.

There is, currently, no detailed information regarding the need for affordable housing in Tipton St John, but this could be answered to some extent with a questionnaire from the Community Council for Devon which will be circulated to every house in Tipton in the next few months.

Hopefully, this will answer some of the outstanding questions on need for affordable housing AND detail the type of affordable housing that is wanted in Tipton St John. It should also clarify to residents what is affordable housing to developers which will come as a surprise to many.

A couple of weeks ago, a letter from Beth Johnson raised the issue of affordable housing within the current planning application. What was missing from that letter was the type of affordable housing the writer specifically wanted, is it rented, shared-ownership, self-build or some other concept.

I will not try to guess which this lady wanted, but hope she and all interested people fill in the form from the Community Council so that we can have an informed discussion on affordable housing needs.

This should help in defining how much affordable housing is needed in Tipton and help in defining any size of development that would be required to satisfy the demand.

As a final note, it will be very interesting to see the reaction of some people who want affordable housing when the council definition of affordable housing is fully comprehended!

John Harding

via email