Sir – Your article Heavy rain required to avoid hosepipe ban (March 1) reports that after a not unexpectedly dry winter, restrictions in water supply by Thames Water are likely to be imposed later this year. A few pages earlier, we read that Grove is to double in size with the building of 2500 houses. I’ve lost count of the new homes which are being erected or planned in this area of Oxfordshire, 6,000 in Didcot alone, but it must be well in excess of 10,000, and probably many more.

It would be interesting to learn from Thames Water, or the planners who agreed to these huge developments, where the water to supply all the new and present houses, and local industries, will come from. It would seem that with the expected changes in our climate, with the weather in this part of the country probably becoming much drier in future, water will be in ever-decreasing supply. I wonder if this is ever considered when planning permission is granted for these town-sized new estates, and also what guarantees can be made to residents and businesses that restrictions will not become an annual event.

Bob Edwards, Long Wittenham