Sir – Two weeks ago you published a letter from me about the city council’s inability to answer simple questions about the size of the Northern Gateway development.

Last week, a letter from Prof Batchelor pointed out a huge discrepancy between the large number of jobs being proposed there and an, apparently, much lower forecast of extra traffic.

Now, I see that Oxfordshire’s Local Transport Plan says that the Oxfordshire Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) has not been taken into account in its traffic forecasts. These forecasts nevertheless predict that, even with planned improvements, the road network will become more congested with more severe delays in future. The plan admits that if the SHMA was taken into account matters would be even worse.

Can the people responsible for the Local Transport Plan tell us:

*What level of future housing growth did they take into account?

* Was a lower level used because they do not believe that the SHMA is an accurate assessment of need?

Or,

* Do they feel that it is just not possible to provide for the levels of traffic that would result from all of the housebuilding proposed in the SHMA?

Either way this suggests that they do not see the SHMA as a realistic basis for planning.

Future housing, employment and transport needs in Oxfordshire should be planned in a co-ordinated and consistent way. It appears that this is not happening and different figures are being used for different purposes.

Unrealistically high levels of employment and housing growth are not matched by transport provision. The consequences for those who live, work and travel in the county could be very bad indeed.

Alan Lodwick
Kidlington