THERE is no single silver bullet to cure the chronic housing shortage in Oxford and the county as a whole.

Such are the numbers required that we need to look at every available option, both the blindingly obvious and the more obscure.

Housing proponents, including those in the city, are eyeing up the Green Belt, saying it can no longer be a sacred cow when future development is discussed.

And they are partly right. We certainly shouldn’t be sending the bulldozers to take out all of the Green Belt, but there needs to be a thorough and honest review whether any of it is suitable.

Similarly, though, we must also look at land inside Oxford designated as brownfield, which means previously used for industrial or commercial building.

A new report has singled out 36 brownfield locations across Oxford as suitable for potentially 1,700 homes.

Now it may be that realistically that figure is optimistic, but even two-thirds of it would have a huge impact, not only in just meeting the 20,000 homes target for 2031 but also in potentially lowering (or at least applying some form of brake to) houses prices.

Snob factor is no reason to ignore brownfield sites. Surely only clean-up and residents’ safety, allied to not simply overloading existing infrastructure, have to be the key determining factors.

Yes the city has to look outward for some of its housing solutions, but we should also be looking inwardly as well.

 

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