I think I may have found the solution to rising house prices.

No, don’t laugh, you must remember when you could buy a decent house for between £10,000 and £20,000 locally and it wasn’t that long ago. Ok, it was, so what, it’s the principle I’m talking about.

Well, when we wanted to buy a house, you couldn’t  just go and get a mortgage, you went on the list. Yes, that’s right a list. The idea was that you found the money first, then the building society investigated and made you an offer subject to a suitable property being put up as security. The time when the money would be available varied from lender to lender and even branch to branch.

This system ensured that housing prices were restricted to money availability and not house availability. It didn’t dampen demand, it appeared to have the effect of builders having to concentrate on affordable properties rather than building what the market will bear.

I mean, if I had the choice, like you, I would live in the middle of no-where, off the flight path of any airport and the nearest motorway would be 50 miles away. The village shop (just 5 miles away) would stock everything, deliver if required and contain the post office. The doctors surgery would be next door and able to perform most minor surgery on the premises. The local school would be the centre of excellence in every subject from astronomy to zoology and every pupil would go to university on merit. The village hall would encompass all social activities from a nursery to an arts complex, located adjacent to the village green/cricket/football pitch/skateboard area and interdenominational 15th century church! Employment will be either within the service industry keeping everybody else out of mischief, or working in the factory producing world class computer games. Everyone else will be occupied trying to extract money from all the visitors who come to see this paragon of virtuous life. These visitors will, of course, destroy the whole ambiance of what has been achieved and before long, residents will not be able to afford to live here due to the pressures brought about by all the new-comers.

Back in the real world, I live on the edge of town, spring is in the air and I for one wouldn’t (on balance!) like to live anywhere else - but I’m sure we can do things to improve our lifestyle.

I will be standing for election in May 2003 - why not join me!

Get in touch now - you know the address