Sir – There is much to cheer in the recent announcement [of the City Deal] praised in your editorial (January 30). But the downside cannot be overlooked.

First, this initiative appears to have been drafted, discussed and agreed in a secretive and undemocratic way, with little wider consultation, although it will impact the whole county.

Second, the creation of up to 50,000 new jobs will inevitably, given Oxfordshire’s very low unemployment rate, draw in many thousands of incomers.

This will lead to more housing being imposed on district councils already struggling to accommodate existing Government-imposed targets and lead to further building on our countryside. It may well force district councils which have already, painfully, agreed their core strategies to revise them in a direction few, if any, want.

Third, this further over-riding of local communities makes nonsense of the localism agenda this Government claims to promote.

Finally it must be asked whether further funnelling growth into an already prosperous part of the UK makes long-term national sense when vast areas of the rest of the UK, where unemployment levels and levels of deprivation are much higher, are crying out for new jobs to be created.

John Gordon, Chairman, South Oxfordshire Sustainability (SOS)