The cost of housing and the value of property are both high and volatile in the city - though they are not of course always the same thing - a fact which affects almost everybody, with some winners and some losers.

I am grateful to S Wilkie (Letters, January 16) for inviting me to explain a little about what the Green Party would do to stabilise things. He says he wants to hear about policies, well here are few.

Greens aren't opposed to housebuilding as long as affordable housing to meet local needs takes priority and that homes are built to high environmental standards. We must bring empty homes back into use and dampen speculative demand for housing and development sites.

How would we do this? Well, we'd start by introducing higher rates of council tax for second or empty homes, as well as rent controls and better legal protection for tenants - no one should be forced into trying to buy a home simply because there is no real alternative.

The Government must recognise that affordable housing of a decent standard is a basic human right and properly fund housing co-operatives - there are some really effective housing co-ops here in Brighton - co-housing projects and other providers of social housing.

They must also introduce laws to allow councils like Brighton and Hove to use receipts from rent and councilhouse sell-offs to themselves buy and develop houses for social use.

Greens would change the tax system to top-up local authority housing budgets from increases in developers' land value.

  • Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for South-East England