Sir – Henry Brougham (Letters, November 15) is absolutely right — the key objective of the Green Belt was that it should protect the setting and views of Oxford, but, in reality, there are many hundreds of acres of the Oxford Green Belt which by their location simply never could, nor can deliver that — a simple drive round the city and you can soon find them.
Much of the immediate land to the city on the west side is in the floodplain, as well as the Green Belt, so we cannot build there.
Port Meadow is fully protected and rightly so, but along the eastern and southern fringes of Oxford there are places where no real harm would be done to the city and its setting.
What is more, in return for some land being built on, owners could be asked to dedicate significant areas of other land adjoining the city for public park/open space for the enjoyment of all and that land could then be enhanced, linked to existing open space or rights of way and secured from further development in perpetuity.
We are desperately short of housing and Oxford and the county are a great place to live and work — which is why people want to be based in the city or county.
We have 625,000 acres in Oxfordshire and barely ten per cent of them are urban, leaving quite a bit of space available.
It’s up to officers and planning committees in all five districts to take a more positive view to land release — some of which may be Green Belt.
That is what the market is crying out for — supply and demand in the housing market are out of balance and that needs addressing urgently.
Harry St John, North Leigh