We are not in a position to cope with ever increasing numbers of houses being built

Each time you consider various applications for additional building in our small village, I write and explain why it is not a viable proposition.

I realise that as a single voice I may not have the volume to have any significance when you make decisions, but it isn’t just me.

On television, day after day, we see the damage that is being done to our world by covering it in concrete.

This affects the normal ecology and balance.

Our wildlife are suffering, the flora and fauna are killed off for ever and the whole balance of village life suffers.

It is quite possible that in your ivory towers far away from East Hoathly, you do not witness what happens here.

Last week with the absolute deluge we experienced the usual fast-flowing ‘river’ that gushes past my house on South Street, because of inadequate drainage, (which was already an issue before the additional houses we were ‘gifted’ by WDC were built) is now dangerous as the extra traffic from these houses see this road as a rat run to speed along en route to the bypass.

Our hourly bus is not sufficient for the villagers or the schoolchildren.

Our regular power cuts and also loss of broadband are an issue that most ‘new inhabitants’ would have a serious problem with.

Also the restrictions imposed on new houses by limited parking facilities create all sorts of issues when parking outside our own homes in South Street, both day and night.

If and when these houses are built, people cannot afford to buy them and any investigation will show that many building projects are on hold because it is not possible to sell the existing new houses.

As for folk buying houses in our village at present, the prices are so high that they are having to work extra hard just to pay off the mortgages and consequently have little or no time to become part of village life.

So we are constantly losing numbers in our clubs and societies.

Enough is enough. We do not need more houses.

Build them where they are needed.

Linda Allen

South Street

East Hoathly