From Peter Mitchell, Ventnor:

In 1973, fresh out of college, newly married and penniless, we bought a house in Chepstow with a mortgage from Chepstow Council.

Chepstow had the wisdom and foresight to invest in young people.

The repayments were far less than we would have paid in rent.

Since then, Kent County Council has lost all its investments in Iceland, in the great crash of 2008, and now we learn the IW Council has borrowed £19 million to invest in property in Manchester and, ironically, Kent (CP, 07-12-18).

One wonders how many house loans could have been made with that money; how many lives could have been changed; how many families given the start that we enjoyed; why we fail to invest in our own.