Sir – Faced with the Strategic Housing Market Assessment’s finding that more than 106,000 dwellings need to be built in Oxfordshire by 2031, it is understandable that groups such as ROAR press the case for localism in planning.

Yet whatever one’s views on the methodology and findings of the SHMA, the case is unanswerable that a lot of new housing does need to be built in Oxfordshire over the coming years to meet the needs of indigenous growth, incomers attracted by the buoyant local economy, and current residents who are seeking a decent home.

Your recent issues have contained one article on how the ability of high-tech businesses to attract staff is constrained by high house prices in and around Oxford; and another on the number of illegal ‘back-garden’ bed-spaces revealed by an aerial survey of Oxford, showing lengths to which people are being driven to find accommodation.

Why not attempt to reduce one element of demand by actively discouraging growth in the local economy and diverting it elsewhere?

The problem is that the country as a whole needs high-quality economic growth to maintain living standards and Oxfordshire contains too many growth assets, starting with the University of Oxford, that cannot be shifted to some other struggling area in, say, the North-East.

A balance needs to be struck. Unfettered localism may meet the desires of local residents but will under-deliver on housing, because the needs of those who would like to live in an area, or who are inadequately housed, will not receive sufficient weight. Ramming through the targets of the SHMA without them being moderated by local views is likely to give rise to insensitive, over-scale development.

It is not an easy circle to square in the current planning system, and it is no wonder the Prime Minister is having such difficulty with it.

Henry Brougham, Kidlington