A building programme can put an end to the current housing misery

Mr Lodwick sets out a false assumption in his reply to my thoughts about the Green Belt.

My reasoning centres on the urgency of Oxford’s housing need – for its existing population and for the needs of Oxfordshire’s future economic vitality.

Compared to Cambridgeshire, the local economy in Oxfordshire is underperforming by hundreds of millions each year. It will continue to do so while the myth is perpetuated that the entire Green Belt is a picture postcard of rural idyll that is sacrosanct.

Over the next decade, Oxfordshire’s local authorities will need to allow for new houses to be built where they are needed.

This means a fresh look at the Green Belt is essential.

As I said in my article, a very small slice of it could alleviate housing need.

My casework confirms such a building programme can put an end to current misery by providing proper, decent and affordable homes for those living in overcrowded flats and those stuck by in HMOs by the lack of local affordable homes.

With space for at most 7,000 new homes, Oxford has insufficient land to meet its acute housing needs.

Given the potential for adding significant value to the economy of Oxfordshire through utilising spin-off employment opportunities emerging from Oxford’s two excellent universities, the county’s district councils must look to provide for the spectrum of much needed housing – open market, intermediate, and social housing.

What Cambridgeshire did for its local economy in the 1990s, Oxfordshire must do for its economy in the current decade.

To refuse to accommodate the potential for significant economic advantage arising from high knowledge hubs is unreasonable.

To preserve in aspic a sewage farm because it’s part of the Green Belt is unreasonable.

To refuse to review the Green Belt is unreasonable.

Cllr VAN COULTER, Labour and Co-operative Oxford City councillor, Coniston Avenue, Oxford

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