SIR – I feel I must write with regard to the plan for 3,000 new homes south of the A4440 southern link road (Worcester News, January 27).

I’ll be conservative and assume that an average of three people would live in each house and do not currently live in Worcester. That’s an additional 9,000 residents, roughly an additional 10 per cent to the 2001 census population figure.

So, theoretically, the city would require an additional 10 per cent increase in infrastructure – schools, roads, hospital facilities and the like.

This is why these kind of schemes are ill-conceived.

Employment is another issue. Let me guess that perhaps only one new resident in each household requires work, which would mean 3,000 in total.

Where are they going to find that amount of employment in the city?

Perhaps they would have to commute, meaning Worcester becomes merely their ‘digs’ while adding to the already congested roads.

If the new homes are not for new residents then we definitely do not need them. There are already plenty of unaffordable empty properties and this will surely increase if we have an interest rate rise.

I see the proposals also include shops (another Tesco?) and industrial areas. While I like the new Diglis development, one need only take a stroll around there to find two huge retail spaces that have been empty since it was completed.

Alas, there are only three beneficiaries in this new proposal, the landowners, agents and potential developers.

C D LEE
Worcester