Brian Parker, of Crossparks, Dartmouth, writes:

Your story about the house 250ft above the Salcombe ­estuary being considered liable to coastal flooding, Chronicle, November 18, reminds me of similar official irrationality in Dartmouth 20 years or so ago, when I was first thinking about changing house within the town.

I made to check what existed online about my then house, ­situated at the top end of Victoria Road. I was astounded to learn that it was ‘potentially at risk from contaminated industrial land’. A search ­produced a map showing the contaminated site – it was the old gas works in Mayors Avenue.

Some official had foolishly decided to apply a standard radius of risk, and this meant that every property within a mile or so was potentially blacklisted.

I am relieved to note that, ­currently, although contamin­ated land maps are not openly available, common sense ­prevails, in that any concerns about such risk are dealt with by South Hams Council on a case-by-case basis.