I read with concern The Argus editorial comment (February 6) in which you disagreed with the decision made by planning inspector Charles Hoile to support the government directive allowing social housing only to be included in developments where more than 15 units are being built.

There are two sides to every argument. For as long as I can remember, private landlords have been the leading providers of property for rent in Brighton and Hove but their contribution has been largely ignored by the city council.

Private landlords contribute massively to the accommodation provision in this city and do not consider it fair that they should be required to hand any part of their small developments/conversions to social housing providers because, in doing so, they are being made to increase the rent of the units they retain, which is unfair to those seeking to rent at a reasonable cost.

The local authority and, in particular, its planning department continues to ignore the contribution made by private landlords to the provision of homes.

While private landlords in this city can go some way to alleviating the housing crisis, the local authority chooses to ignore them and uses every method possible to make sure that the cost of any development, both for construction and in the provision of items such as digital bus stops, car-sharing schemes etc, is as unaffordable as possible.

It's time the council started to work with private landlords with the objective of providing as many decent units of accommodation to let as possible.

Finally, it must be emphasised that private landlords receive no subsidy from government and, as a result, provide far more cost-effective homes than housing associations when the massive subsidies given to them by the housing corporation are taken into account.

-Mike Stimpson, chairman, Southern Private Landlords' Association, Milner Road, Brighton