Sir – Your headline report on Oxford being the least affordable city in the UK was interesting, as was Paul Swinney’s comment that “the greatest threat to Oxford’s economic growth is the unaffordability of housing”.
However, the report Cities Outlook 2013 also shows that Oxford is one of the ten cities with; the highest private-sector employment growth (third), the highest number of patents approved (fourth) and it is one of the ten fastest-growing cities by population (sixth).
Drawing fundamental conclusions from reports such as this is to an extent speculative.
I would argue that the need to improve the transport infrastructure (so that workers can get to Oxford) is as pressing as the housing requirements. It seems reasonable to me to suggest that Oxford’s economy is doing well and for a multitude of reasons not covered in this report, should continue to do so.
Suzanne McIvor, Oxford
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