Sir, I’m not sure if it was NIMBYS (not in my back yard) week in the Observer last Friday, but we had two letters protesting against house building, one regarding Brynhir fields on the outskirts of Tenby, and the other the proposed extension to Whitlow.

If we start from a point where we recognise that we have to build houses somewhere, as there is a massive shortage of housing versus demand, and that extending existing conurbations is the best way to do that, then both of these proposals are sensible and in keeping with the council’s development policy.

Many of the people complaining live either in Upper Hill Park/Lady Park in Tenby, or in Whitlow/Castle View in Saundersfoot, both of which were built in the late 1960s/ early ’70s. I put it to those people that if the people of Saundersfoot and Tenby had behaved back then as some are doing now, then potentially those estates would never have been built and they would therefore have nowhere to live themselves.

The traffic issues really barely exist, apart from two weeks in August. We have very light local traffic, and a short trip to any major town or city will confirm that.

In short, we have to build the houses somewhere. I am sorry that it has to be in someone’s back yard, but there are other places to walk in Pembrokeshire than one particular road or set of fields and we have to get on with building the houses we need.

If someone was to put a covenant on those developments saying that they had to be sold to people as their main residence and preference was given to local families, I would fully support that, as the last thing we need is two more ghost estates that are only used in the summer months.

Ian Jones