Residents have begun asking me about the Liberal Democrat stance on the East of England Plan.

Some of you may remember that we campaigned under the slogan ‘Hands off Herts’: in short, we have vigorously opposed the excessive housing numbers proposed for Hertfordshire, especially in the St Albans area. These are based on massive projections of growth in demand for housing. They are clearly unsustainable: we simply do not have the roads, the public transport systems, the medical services or the schools.

Meanwhile the Government has ploughed ahead with these excessive plans so that thousands of new homes are currently scheduled both to the west and to the east of the District.

What has been exasperating about the process has been the Government’s fixation with restraints on housing suppy (the planning system, local people, and local councils). The Barker reports were predicated entirely on the fact that the problem lay with the supply side. no analysis was done of the reasonableness of the demand.

But the credit crunch has shown beyond doubt that some of this demand – maybe the greater part – was due to a defective mortgage and banking system, where people were inflating house prices after being offered unaffordable loans. There is reason to suppose that there has been a step change: there will be no mortgages in excess of 100% of the value of a property and deposit will again be required.

So more than ever we must challenge the numbers – while being reassured that it is unlikely that there will be any major new house building starts in the foreseeable future while the banks are paralysed.