Figuring it out

In my letter ‘Localism is dead’ (Gazette, June 6), I raised doubts about the unknown origin of some Government statistics.

Interestingly, a Parliamentary committee has just issued a report criticising the way in which official statistics can be manipulated, so as to ‘create a newsworthy headline’! They do not always give ‘a true and fair picture of the story’.

I wonder whether this criticism applies to the all-important statistics relating to housing demands and how much reliance can be placed on these figures, which all planners take as Gospel truth?

W. F. Daggett

Barn Close

Littlehampton