Burnt out of Kent village life

From Mrs Louise Wilson

Sir: As a resident of the village of Crockenhill, a previous district councillor, and chairman of the parish council for the Crockenhill ward within the Sevenoaks district, I was appalled at your misrepresentation of the village in your editorial ("When next door is for sale", 30 June) about the arson of a house at Skeet's Hill, which had been bought by the Broomleigh Housing Association to house a needy family who live within the London Borough of Bromley. The people of Crockenhill had no knowledge of these circumstances until the fire was shown on television. There had not been a petition, nor any evidence of a house on fire.

Skeet's Hill is not in the village of Crockenhill. A number of detached houses were built there after the First World War to provide smallholdings for war veterans. These are scattered along a quiet remote lane two miles from the village.

Crockenhill is a friendly village where much of the population is indigenous, not "communitarian". We have a happy successful housing association development within the village. Our annual parish meeting is well attended, our district councillor and parish councillors keep us in touch. Until this media story reached, us we had not heard about the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Louise Wilson

Crockenhill, Kent