I QUESTION the article (April 24) by Martin Kyrle, who tells us that councils have no say in what kind of houses are built in or around their cities but only have the power to grant or refuse planning permission for whatever the builders put before them.

So what he’s telling us is that there is no such thing as a council house any more, that councils cannot plan and build the type of dwelling necessary to alleviate the situation wherever it may be required, that we have instead to rely on building firms to work out the type of property likely to bring the most profit.

I cannot believe they would let go of the reins where housing is concerned, and if Martin Kyrle is right then this country is surely heading for disaster.

You cannot allow private building firms to gallop willynilly over our countryside, building just what they want.

There is no end of councilowned plots of land around most cities and it’s up to these councils to decide what type of building goes on those plots (I’m talking of brownfield sites, not our precious green acres).

We recently fought off plans by Southampton City Council to build houses on our grass verges at Lordswood, and although we all understood that it was the builders who put the original plans to the council, there was no one who believed the council had no hand or say in the type of properties that would have been built had the plan gone ahead.

L A O’Bee, Southampton.