OPINION: Last week’s column on the need for more houses in Kent provoked a spirited debate ‘below the line’ so, in the spirit of debate, and given the news the government has buckled under backbench pressure and scrapped targets, Rhys Griffiths responded to a selection of the comments from our readers…

slip_digby wrote: Working from home is now the norm for a vast amount of people. It's a shame it had to take a pandemic for employers to realise this. But it means that we no longer have to live close to economic powerhouses like London. Surely this means a lot of people can now move to any part of the country.

The problem is that even those who can WFH (still the minority) are now likely to be working in a hybrid model. They are still required to be in the office a couple of days a week and so still need to be based within commuting distance of their desk.

And while ‘we no longer have to live close to economic powerhouses like London’ this also means that places like Kent are all the more attractive to those wanting to escape the big smoke.

I take this as a compliment, I’m delighted that DFLs see the attraction of our county and recognise it as a great place to live, work, raise kids and retire.

The opportunity here is to develop all our communities in such a way that we can benefit from the spending power of people now not having to travel into London every day.

If managed right, there’s a great opportunity to ‘level up’ the south east, especially in our coastal communities. This will present great challenges, and investment in infrastructure and services must support growth in population, but the answer isn’t to pull up the drawbridge because we believe the challenge will defeat us before we even try.

Greatest 27th Pick Ever wrote: Are all local papers always so blatantly biased politically? I assumed it would be a good idea commercially to at least pretend to float somewhere in the middle regardless of your personal views.

You’re mistaking an opinion for bias. It’s quite possible to have a view and still remain impartial.

My opinion (and that’s why it’s found in the opinion pages) is that we need more homes, along with the requisite infrastructure and services, to allow Kent to keep flourishing.

Demand for homes is a mark of a place’s success, we should celebrate the fact people want to make Kent their home. But an entire generation is being priced out of home ownership, and something needs to be done to allow them the stability that comes from a secure home rather than the constant turmoil of the lightly-regulated private rental sector.

Anna2337 wrote: Kent is full. England is the most densely populated place in Europe.

Wrong on both counts. A number of European countries have higher population density, and in terms of urban density English cities are often much less densely populated than European cities where people tend to be more likely to live at close quarters in flats rather than houses.

Canterbury's Finest wrote: It would seem the KoL journalists have decided to have a little competition for Xmas to see who can write a piece which generates the most angry, frothing at the mouth response from the readership.

You imagine our offices to be much more exciting than they really are. And if ‘angry, frothing at the mouth’ was our measure of success then I’d probably have chosen to write about something much more bile-inducing than housing, like how much I love the Duchess of Sussex’s podcast, or why we should be rejoining the EU and adopting the Euro.

Cakeordeath wrote: He is right, we aren't full. But adding 1000s of new homes in an area already with severe congestion problems, and yes I am talking about Canterbury here for example, is plain wrong.

Blimey, someone who thinks I might be onto something. And I agree that congestion is a huge problem. But many people seem to think it is a reason not to do anything, whereas I think our political leaders - locally and nationally - should be braver when it comes to encouraging people out of their vehicles and onto public transport and other forms of active travel. And if you want to froth at the mouth with anger, wait until you hear my thoughts on cycling…

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