Sir – It is good to know that some local MPs and council leaders are questioning the Government’s housing targets.

I have been leafleting recently for the district council and European elections, and have seen examples of new housing estates which are disproportionate to their setting.

One such is ‘The Paddocks’ at Enstone, built in conjunction with the Government ‘Help to Buy’ scheme. This new estate comprises only houses, with minimal greenery and no play area or amenities.

The locals were anxious about pressure on the local primary school, but were promised these houses would not have children in them, yet many have four bedrooms.

Needless to say there are children in these houses, no room for them in the local school, and so they must travel to Charlbury.

What is driving this massive expansion of 33 per cent increase in housing in 17 years? Your article made no mention of the EU ‘free movement of peoples’ which David Cameron has said he upholds.

The rate of immigration is colossal for a country our size — 200,000 net increase last year. With our own young professional people struggling to get on the housing ladder, it defies belief that our Government is complacent about this rate of population increase.

Added to this is the pressure on local councils to co-operate in providing five-year plans (actually six years due to a 20 per cent buffer requirement), which if not forthcoming results in new housing being forced on local people against their wishes.

So much for the Big Society and local democracy. I hope these Tory MPs will force a rethink, but somehow I suspect their protests will fall on deaf ears.

Stephen Nash, Middle Barton