I HAVE lived in a semi-detached house all my life and find Bellway’s housing statistics (January 1) baffling. We are told the UK is desperately short of “affordable” housing and yet Bellway are proud that 60% of their new homes are four-bedroom detached houses with three toilets and very unlikely to be “affordable”.

New UK homes are also built on the smallest amount of land per dwelling in Europe – presumably the reason behind three-storey town houses needing three toilets – hence my concern about the fetish for detached houses.

These waste precious land by creating a useless wind funnel between houses bounded by a cold wall that wastes energy.

Space is at such a premium in the UK that making 60% of new homes detached seems appalling.

The wasted space inevitably means such small rooms that the first thing most owners do is reduce their garden even further by adding a conservatory to make the dining area usable and then making the kitchen big enough for modern needs by extending it into the garage – or use the garage as a store/utility room.

Bellway sales have done an excellent job and like Mr Clarkson, we too feel we “would be hard pushed to sell” the average modern new home. However I disagree with his final paragraph claiming that their homes are “designed for modern day living”. If this were true the car would fit in the garage, the kitchen and dining room would not need extending and there would be space for furniture as well as a bed in the bedrooms. National house builders are in business purely to make money and their public statements should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Alec Denton Oxford Avenue, Guiseley