Martin McGowan-Scanlon, of Bay View Estate, Stoke Fleming, writes:

I refer to Stephen Smith’s ­letter, ‘The question of second homes’, Chronicle, January 22.

Cllr Smith may recall that, after his ridiculous suggestion for naming a new development in town, I suggested he ­examine the council’s own ­ability to develop, thus solving the problem of affordable ­housing, instead of expecting developers to build homes without making a profit.

A while later I noted that he proposed this very solution himself as worth investigating.

Since then I don’t believe there has been any progress, or even a reason why it is not a viable option.

As this is the same councillor I mentioned in my letter last week as abstaining on everything at the council meeting I attended, I am a little surprised that he now seems to suggest that he is hard done by because of Kevin Pyne’s comments in a previous letter.

Whether or not I agree with Mr Pyne is irrelevant, but I do think it is a good idea of Cllr Smith’s to offer to second Mr Pyne’s nomination to the council.

Given his latest voting record of abstentions, which I suspect is the norm rather than a one-off, may I also suggest he goes so far as to offer up his seat so that Mr Pyne may show sooner rather than later if he has the answers or not.

At the very least, I doubt that Cllr Pyne would abstain on all matters when representing his constituents.