I agree with the views expressed by Alex Morton of the Policy Exchange (“Should we turn run-down high streets into housing?” Debate March 25)

I would add that there are instances where if shops were permitted to change to housing it would only reverse what happened before planning legislation came into being.

This photograph shows Victorian shops built in front of late Georgian houses to the edge of the Addington Square Conservation Area in the London Borough of Southwark. Although the main part of the conservation area is the square itself, which is set back from the main road, the conservation area extends to include late Georgian terraces on the Camberwell Road. In these terraces shops have never been built, and are
a mix of residential although there are buildings owned by a charity and there are offices.

Removing shops – which I am sure other readers of your magazine will have also seen in similar locations – will allow the late Georgian facades to be restored and their front gardens recreated and might justify the extension of the conservation area. It will also provide much needed less expensive housing.

Peter Cooke
London SE5