LEAD

I HAVE just finished reading your front article on affordable housing in Uttlesford (‘Young priced off the housing ladder’).

Myself and my fianc� have started the long task of saving a deposit for our first property but after a short search around it seems like the only properties available to us will be one bedroom flats.

For some this is perfect for first time buyers, but for a couple with our first baby on the way a one bedroom flat would be impossible for the three of us to live in.

The housing prices in Saffron Walden, as well as the whole Uttlesford area, is ridiculous; if we wanted a two bedroom house or even a three bedroom house if we had a bigger family we’d have no hope.

Why is it these new developments in the town seem to be springing up but not one of them will offer affordable housing for the young or those on normal salaries?

The one on the old Bells Language college site is a prime example; from what it looks like there will be a handful of ‘affordable’ apartments and the rest will be three, four or five bedroom houses, all no doubt well out of the average persons price range (I was under the impression that it was all to be affordable housing...what happened to that?)

When will the council realise that 90 per cent of the residents of Uttlesford don’t earn �50,000 a year and can’t afford to buy houses that are completely over priced?

Or could it be the local estate agents are in fact to blame, over-pricing homes on purpose so to keep Saffron Walden and Uttlesford an affluent area to live?

Something needs to be done in the area to keep the young from moving and finding other places to live.

D Jones

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