Sir – I’d just like to add a word of support for those on the council who’d like to restrict the sale of council homes. Some may not recall that, when this was first done, it coincided precisely with the arrival of Big Issue sellers on the streets and the upsurge of the homeless. It is better by far to have available lower-cost rented homes than to take these out of the supply and force both the young and the less-well-off, to queue forever for the first rung of the property ladder or — worse — to find themselves without a roof.

The manic rise in house prices (to where some are now sold for several millions) also dates from the homes’ shortages created by the first sell-off of affordable rented council accommodation for individuals and families.

Ian Flintoff, Rose Hill