WHEN a firm with the standing of Blades & Sons complains of problems in the house-building industry (Letters, May 2), then you can be sure something is seriously wrong.

I, too, have been reduced to house renovations and one-off houses as a result of excessive regulations and burdens.

My last development of six town houses was very difficult. The problems were many and varied, and costly.

If I had to do that project again today to satisfy the latest Code for Sustainable Homes and to hand over a portion of the product under City of York Council’s intended new affordable rules, then the job would just not go ahead at all.

This is tragic, because there is a huge demand and need for new housing and I should be forging ahead with dozens of men on my payroll.

The reason I am not has nothing to do with the recession, finance or mortgages. It has everything to do with the over-complicated and costly regulations which place totally unrealistic demands on the house builder.

If the council want builders like me to provide housing and jobs, then it needs to radically change its punitive policies.

Patrick Wharton, Hovingham, York.