Wolvercote, particularly its lower end, may well be part of Oxford but has all the feel of a small village.

Which is why its residents can be forgiven for being particularly concerned about the prospect of almost 200 new homes being put on the site of the Wolvercote Paper Mill.

Oxford University has determined to sell the 17-acre plot — but only once it has got planning permission for its carefully-designed new housing development.

But despite the university’s attempts to make sure its plans suit the villagers, opinion is already divided on whether it will be a good thing for Wolvercote.

And the issue of traffic has already emerged as one of the main concerns among those who are worried about the scheme. The university will no doubt have spent a lot of money on experts who know how to predict the number of cars the development will generate.

But the people of Wolvercote — who live next to one of Oxford’s busiest junctions — can be excused for having their reservations about what the extra traffic will mean for their village.

Comparing the amount of traffic this development will generate to the amount of traffic the operational paper mill generated is probably misleading. Paper has not been produced in Wolvercote for almost two decades, in the days when the A40 was not quite the perpetual traffic jam that it is now.

An extra 70 cars joining the Wolvercote roundabout every morning might not sound like a large number, but anyone who uses the road network to the north of Oxford knows that it is frequently desperately over-loaded.

Oxford’s desperate need for housing might dictate that the paper mill site would be better used for homes than anything else. In addition, the village would doubtless benefit from developer contributions, but the effects this proposed development will have, both on the village and the surrounding traffic network, need some serious joined-up thinking.