DAVE DRURY, of Ford Valley, Dartmouth, writes:

I have seen the terrible, heart-wrenching pictures of the misery of the women, children and men from war-torn Syria and I sympathise with their plight. Thank God we have a United Kingdom.

We should support these people as much as we can, but there is a limit to what we can do in the South Hams.

We have to be compassionate, but we have to be realistic. We cannot house them, because where are the houses? How can the council put them to the top of a waiting list? This would be wrong and the council should not allow it.

What about our children and young people trying to find homes? It is impossible for them, and they have lived and worked here all their lives.

The South Hams, like most of the south west, has high unemployment, very few jobs and very few houses because the well-off have taken most of them. Very big houses could host a family – if mine was ­bigger, I would.

The Chronicle carried a story last week about South Hams Council being urged to take in 50 refugees. Again, where can it house them? They can’t be housed in our own – that would be unacceptable to all the ­people who have been told there are no spare houses. There would be huge resentment.

The second home owners could help, but that would only be a short fix because many homes are visited at weekends and bank holidays. Perhaps there could be a two- or three-month period where this could happen?

The UK could help in the inner cities, where there are derelict buildings boarded up. These could be brought up to a living standard by the Government fixing them up temporarily. The refugees would at least have running water and a roof over their heads. It would be safe and they could make it a home. Families could get work and make a ­better life for themselves.

The Government should take the lead on this, not local ­councils, which have to budget on a shoestring.