YOUR leader (Tuesday, May 31) writes of encroaching on villages.

In the 1940/50s I was brought up in Aston Somerville, near Broadway. Then, there were only five posh houses - The Manor, The Hall, The Rectory, a farmer's house and farm manager's house. All the rest were humble working men's homes.

Today the same village is full of private 'townie' houses - it is hardly recognisable - and only the narrow roads are the same. Some people call this progress.

GEORGE COWLEY,

Worcester.