THE Government should be prepared to force unpopular housing sites across Oxfordshire to boost growth, a leading adviser has said.

Sadie Morgan said the Government should ensure one million homes are built in the arc between Oxford and Cambridge to fuel economic growth by 2050 – with or without councils' agreement.

Professor Morgan is a commissioner on the National Infrastructure Commission.

That advisory body produced a major report into growth last year, which said an expressway between Oxford and Cambridge and improvement of East West rail are critical to the arc’s continued prosperity, along with the homes.

She said at a conference yesterday: “We are optimistic that the Government and local authorities can reach agreement on the scale and location of these settlements.

"However, if agreement cannot ultimately be reached then the secretary of state [for housing] should be prepared to designate the new settlements in the national interest.”

The NIC has said investment could see the arc become Europe’s answer to California’s Silicon Valley, fuelled by the UK's premier university cities.

It is unlikely Government intervention will be necessary to ensure homes are built in Oxfordshire – for the time being at least.

The Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, officially signed in March, was the first Government-backed deal of its kind to boost house building.

As part of that, the Government will give a 'down payment' of £215m to councils for them to build 100,000 homes by 2031.

The vast majority of those are already included in councils' Local Plans, with other plans to be completed in coming months.

Another key plank of the growth across the arc will be the £3bn Oxford to Cambridge expressway.

It is understood a decision on a preferred corridor of that road – which will cut through Oxfordshire – will be made later this summer.

At a conference of business and council leaders in Milton Keynes yesterday, a champion of development in the arc said up to 10 Government departments could be involved in the project.

Iain Stewart, the MP for Milton Keynes South and official champion of the Oxford to Cambridge arc, added: "Why do companies want to come to the United Kingdom? The first part is what the UK does and tax regimes, employment regimes, legal structures – of course that makes it enormously attractive.

"We've got Cambridge, Oxford, Cranfield [universities] – all enormous centres of academic excellence."

He added: "But we've also got a very attractive rural landscape and if we overdevelop that or develop it in the wrong way then we kill off one of the key attractions."

But Mr Stewart said growth will not develop organically.

He said: "[Investors] are globally mobile.

"They could go to Boston, they could go to China, they could go to India.

"We have got to keep our game up."