Sir – Last week, I participated in the Public Examination into Oxford City Council’s Northern Gateway Plan. I was appalled to find that the city could not answer simple questions about the size of the development which were posed by the Inspector at the examination.

One such question was how many jobs would be created at the Northern Gateway. Estimates from different sources have ranged between 3,000 and 8,000 jobs or higher. However the city was not prepared to settle on a figure for planning purposes.

This is important because an estimate of jobs is needed in order to understand the effects on traffic and also to forecast the number of extra homes that will be needed for workers at the development. The result appears to be that the traffic and housing studies have been undertaken separately and based on very different assumptions about numbers of jobs.

My reading of the background documents is that a high number of future jobs has been used to forecast housing need, contributing to the exaggerated figures in the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).

However a low figure seems to have been used for forecasting travel to the site, underplaying the effects on the already congested transport network. It goes without saying that this will have very damaging consequences for a wide area well beyond the city’s boundaries.

This uncoordinated approach to planning seems wholly inadequate and cavalier. However, the city council does not seem interested in a proper analysis of the consequences, rather it appears intent on pursuing this development at all costs.

Alan Lodwick, Kidlington