WITH reference to “Gas depot flats plan abandoned” (The Press, May 5), with family homes required rather than flats.

I can speak from experience, having witnessed the wholesale destruction of an estate close to Wembley Stadium, which consisted of family homes.

Put in its place was a concrete jungle called Chalkhill Estate, also an adjacent private estate called Stonebridge Park, which preceded it. Over the ensuing years, between 1960 and 1970, this became a sink estate, crime-ridden and requiring two police officers on duty round the clock to try and maintain some form of order amongst its population.

From what was a tree-lined, garden estate, whose people had a pride in their community, when I left in the1980s it resembled a war zone, with the very heart of a community destroyed, never to recover.

Housing is important, but the needs of a community, such as space, privacy and a garden environment, must take precedence, when it comes to raising a family and maintaining people’s peace of mind.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.