I READ with interest your coverage of the Carpenters Park residents naturally concerned about building on the green belt.

What seems to be lost in this debate is that with a Government whose mantra is 'Build Build Build' councils like Three Rivers have little or no choice but to submit green belt sites to meet their top-down, government-imposed targets in their local plan or it will be rejected.

Similarly in Watford, where green belt is scarce, this is not an option for us - we either build high in the town centre or build medium (four to seven storeys ) everywhere else. As Mayor, I opted for the former, not wishing to ruin our suburban estates like Tudor, Kingswood, Cassiobury and many others.

But instead of carping from the sidelines, I wish the other parties' representatives would say where they would build the demanded 800 homes a year or to even see our MP attempt to justify his Government’s policy on the grounds that that was what he was elected on.

But that would take courage - much easier to dissemble and back protesters rather than face the consequences of the impact of your Government’s policies or jump on what ever bandwagon is rolling in the case of Labour.

Governing means tough choices. I still have the scars!

Baroness Thornhill

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