SIR – It is apparent from your recent article (New houses estimates slashed by 13,000, T&A April 11) that the future housing requirements of Bradford are being based on historical rather than actual requirements.

Scant recognition appears to have been given to the crucial factor of household size resultant from radical changes in the size of our city’s population.

Most of the occupants of the one and two-member households will be no longer with us in 2021 and will be replaced by the large influx of extended families.

Before building unnecessary houses, we should first determine the potential of the current stock to fulfil the requirement, be it on the basis of adapting, renovation or replacement on the same site.

We need housing to be what and where communities want it, ideally within a mile of City Hall, rather than sprawling in suburbia to the sole advantage of developers’ profits.

To counter the current atrophy, Bradford city centre needs people to be part of it, and what better way than to live there?

I hope that there is someone in Bradford Council who can to kick the Government figures into touch and put a foot into reality.

John Pashley, Westcliffe Avenue, Baildon