Community Land Trusts could reinvent the British council house

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CLTs are exempt from Right to Buy legislation (Getty)

The death of affordable housing has seen the birth of Community Land Trusts (CLTs). CLTs are the only organisations exempt from the right to buy legislation where property is owned in perpetuity by the community and rented or sold to local people at what they can truly afford.

The government needs to invest in this community led affordable housing and re-invent the modern council house, and not simply build houses that people cannot afford.

Peter Minty
Gloucestershire
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Best laid plans

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has been heavily criticised for its response to the disaster at Grenfell Tower. The borough’s website states that “The Council's major emergency plan was activated in the early hours of Wednesday morning (14 June) in response to the fire at Grenfell Tower.”

Given the criticisms, major emergency plans in place for all local authorities should be urgently reviewed to see if they would be sufficiently prompt and comprehensive in any future emergency.

Audrey Boucher
Basingstoke

Empty prayers

I find repetitive, benign comments, from spectators to politicians, extraordinarily annoying. At a time when the country seems to be going through a series of upsetting events, why do we have to endure superfluous interviews of no value and generic comment? Whilst universally we feel sympathy, do we need to hear everyone say it?

“My thoughts and prayers”, whilst pious and noble in intent, seems to be a strap line fired out on automatic. If you are (self) important enough to be interviewed or submit comment, why not do it from the heart and sound a little less contrived?

Nicholas Wilby
Address supplied

An imperial measure

Douglas of Edinburgh informs us (Letters, 20 June) that his primary reason for voting for Brexit was to allow the reintroduction of imperial measures. If he and others have put us all through this prolonged agony, risk to jobs, disruption, not to mention untold stress to members of my immediate family who are resident here but hold other European passports, can I have the pleasure of telling him where to put his pound of apples? Preferably with a yardstick?

Anne Gould ​
Hertfordshire
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The stupid cup

James Moore (Chancellor Philip Hammond behaves as the grown up while cabinet colleagues drink from the stupid cup, 20 June) writes with sagacity about the travails of Philip Hammond as he struggles with colleagues in Cabinet who have drunk from the "stupid cup".

The article triggered in me a memory of a quote from John Stuart Mill – “Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative”.

Patrick Cleary ​
Devon

Rotten Brexit

In response to Linda Johnson's letter regarding our departure from the EU, (Hard, soft or scrambled Brexit?, Letters, 19 June), the time to learn about the pros and cons of leaving was before the referendum. Unfortunately all we were treated to was false claims, false promises and dare I say it, downright lies.

I admit that the Remain camp focused on the negative effect of a leave vote, but no one could disagree that this has somewhat been borne out. We were also subjected to an extremely biased tabloid press blaming migrants/the EU for all our ills.

Sadly, I imagine there were votes cast by people who had little idea what they were voting for, perhaps as a protest vote? Tellingly the most Googled phrase following the result was "What is the EU?"

John Schluter
​Guildford