I read with some concern the piece about new housebuilding numbers on the front page of last week’s Courier.

As a retired planner and former East Lothian councillor, my advice to the current council is don’t listen to the cries of the housebuilders or their phoney altruistic claims.

Most are motivated only by profit, not by meeting actual community needs, and what astonishing levels of profit some of them make.

So, of course they want to build as many houses as possible and many of these would most probably be the large detached luxury houses that they seem to be so fond of.

But the principal requirement if we are to tackle the housing crisis is for smaller and affordable homes to meet local needs, not the aspirations of those coming from elsewhere attracted by what East Lothian has to offer.

Yes, as the housebuilders rightly point out, it does have a lot to offer with its coast, countryside and historic towns relatively close to Edinburgh, but the simple fact is that if you flood the county with new homes for those attracted by these assets, you will end up doing real damage to those assets, eventually making the place less attractive to all.

Just look at what all the extra traffic that is generated by new developments is doing to the town of Musselburgh.

We certainly need to build more homes but they have to be of the right type, in the right place and accompanied by the right associated infrastructure; and such infrastructure, apart from schools, has been sadly missing in most recent development areas.

Where are the new bus services for new housing areas? Where are the extra trains needed to get commuters into Edinburgh and beyond? And where is the social infrastructure, notably key health services but also expanded leisure provision?

So I say prioritise satisfying need rather than demand, safeguard and protect the county’s assets, including the best agricultural land, and make sure new housing is accompanied by essential infrastructure.

Using all the planning tools available, this shouldn’t be hard to do if the housebuilders are reined in and don’t have it all their own way.

We have become far too reliant on an unconstrained private sector to provide new homes.

And one more thing from this Musselburgh resident: the wider Musselburgh area will be full and creaking at the seams accommodating half of the whole county’s recent housing allocations, so no more new housing here please.

Barry Turner

Inveresk