SIR,

I wish to correct the impression given in the letter from David Davies, published in the Beacon on 17th October under the headline 'Council has no choice over houses'.

The total number of new houses planned for Monmouthshire was, as stated by our MP, dictated by the Welsh Government.

Where those houses are to be built is entirely in the hands of Monmouthshire County Council. They could have chosen to build them on any of the several hundred sites put forward at the pre deposit stageof the LDP, many of which were not prone to flooding.

MCC has decided to concentrate the new houses in five large strategic sites, one of which is the flood-prone site at Wonastow Road which has recently been sold by the Welsh Government to a Guernsey-based company in a deal which is being investigated by the Auditor General for Wales.

David Davies says in his letter that he agrees there should be no further development but he has made no statement against the proposal to build 400 unwanted, un-needed houses on land which regularly floods.

He needs to come off the fence and state clearly whether he supports this development or not.

Bob Hayward

(Dixton with Osbaston)