COUN Simpson-Laing again repeats herself (Letters, June 16). She uses old news in mentioning the 19 council houses in Clifton started last year and says again that the council is working closely with developers to kick-start stalled developments (The Press, June 14).

She has nothing new to say about how the council is tackling the housing crisis, and this is yet further evidence of policy failure. She should consider the following historical data on council housing numbers: Council houses built in the UK between 1951 and 1980: 4,572,400 and between 1981 and 2010: 357,330. This is a drop of more than 4.2 million council homes from one 30-year period to the next. In the past ten years, the average number of council homes built in the UK was only 463 a year compared with 152,413 a year from 1951 to 1980.

These figures tell us why we have today’s housing shortages and what the solution is to the problem. Governments have failed in abandoning council house-building and clearly need to return to the programme before 1980. Bashing house-builders with unworkable affordable housing targets is not a solution, and only exacerbates the problem.

Paul S Cordock, Durlston Drive, Strensall, York.