Letter: ‘I’m feeling sorry for New Forest developers’

I am no champion of developers; indeed, usually quite the opposite. But I do feel a twinge of sympathy for Cala Homes.

A budget of tens of thousands of pounds was set for the obligatory archeological investigation of a site which ballooned to one million pounds (A&T 16th Aug).

Not unreasonably, the developer applied for variation to the planning permission he had received.

What was found? Evidence of settlement of Roman and pre-Roman origins. The cost of the investigation is quite ridiculous as nothing unique was discovered, and a few hearths, pits and quite uninteresting pottery fragments have added nothing to our understanding of Roman settlement.

We need to build houses, and developments must not be delayed and costs not run up to find yet another unoriginal Roman village.

Peter Green

Bartley