County told to build extra homes

6:35am Wednesday 22nd August 2007

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Oxfordshire is to be recognised as the South East's homebuilding power house with 56,640 homes being built in the next two decades - 20 per cent more than first thought.

The Oxford Mail has been told a top-level report due to be published next week would recommend a fundamental review of the Green Belt - particularly around Oxford - as the county is singled out for development. The expected recommendations form part of the Government's response to the draft South East Plan, the region's housing blueprint until 2026.

Whitehall is tipped to suggest a 10 per cent increase on already-proposed housebuilding targets in the region over the next 20 years.

That would mean about 32,000 new homes being built each year until 2026, instead of the 29,000 contained in the draft South East Plan drawn up by the South East England Regional Assembly.

But in Oxfordshire, the Government wants to see 9,440 extra homes built on top of the already-proposed 47,200, sources said.

Last night the news was welcomed by those on the city's housing waiting list - but not green campaigners who fear for land south of Grenoble Road in Blackbird Leys, one of the sites mooted for a massive housing development.

Andy Boddington, of the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "A full review of Green Belt boundaries will bring forward a large number of schemes from developers and increase pressure for Oxford to expand outwards.

"Oxfordshire needs more housing, especially affordable housing, but it doesn't need a sprawling conurbation from Begbroke north of Oxford to Abingdon to the south. It seems the green fields of Oxfordshire have become a soft target."

Where to put more has been a contentious issue: the county council favours expanding towns, such as Didcot, Bicester and Banbury, and safeguarding Oxford. But city council leader John Goddard said: "Proposals to have more housing around the edge of Oxford city is not a proposal to concrete over the Green Belt - it's an option to use up to one per cent, which is no big deal. This is a start of recognising the desperate need for housing for the people of Oxford."

Thames Water and Magdalen College want to build 8,000 homes on land they own off Grenoble Road. And land off Oxford Road, Garsington, owned by Brasenose College, has been offered for development.

County council leader Keith Mitchell said: "I'm opposed to building on Green Belt land whatever the final numbers and we need to bear in mind the growing debate about building on the flood plain."

Labour city councillor Ed Turner said: "People contact me every week who are living in overcrowded conditions or who were brought up in the city and cannot afford to live here.

"It would be a victory for the homeless, a victory for common sense and a victory for Oxford as a whole."

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government added: "We cannot comment on figures at this time."

Case study 1: Mark and Julie Humphrey and their four children desperately need a bigger council home, but they have been waiting since 2001. The family of six currently live in a two-bedroom house in Asquith Road, Rose Hill. Their boys, Daniel, nine, Lee, seven, George, five, and seven month-year old Charlie, sleep in one room on two sets of bunk beds.

Space is so short all their toys have to be stored in their parent's bedroom. Mr Humphrey, 42, said living accommodation was also tight, with just a kitchen, living room and bathroom downstairs.

He added: "Daniel really needs a room of his own now, it is a real squeeze. But if we just had one more room we could have two in one and two in the other and they could have all their stuff in there.

"An extra room downstairs would mean we could eat dinner in there as a family. We definitely need more housing as long as it is not given to the wrong people."

Case study 2: Kelly Probetf and her partner Anthony have been waiting for a bigger council house for more than a year. The couple and their three children, Jazmin, eight, and 13-month-old twins Kymali and Samara, live in two-bedroom second floor flat in Paradise Street. Miss Probetf, 26, said: "The flat is tiny. We cannot fit two cots in our bedroom so the twins have to sleep on a mattress on the floor. My other daughter's bedroom is just full of wardrobes and clothes. Now the twins try and climb out onto the balcony, it's not safe at all.

"The twins would have somewhere proper to sleep and Jazmin would have more playing space. They definitely need more housing - more affordable housing - because the rents are so high in Oxford that people go on to the council list."