Letter: The benefit families need

Sir: Earlier this year I presided at the marriage of Emma and Simon. Today they inform me that she is pregnant, and still living with her mother. They hope to live in the village in which her grandfather was the carpenter. The reason they cannot find their own home for their child to be born in is because the council houses have been sold off.

Twenty years ago Emma and Simon would have stood a fair chance to remain in the village of their ancestors. When will the new government initiate a policy of rural housing and housing trusts so that Emma and Simon can remain in their village? The land is here, what we want is the money. Please, Mr Blair, "there is no room in the inn" yet.

The Rev PAUL JENKINS

Singleton, West Sussex