The news that thousands of homes look set to be built on the edge of Oxford should be broadly welcomed today.

The city has too few homes and nowhere to build any new ones. It is also a well-known fact the A34 has reached its capacity.

Therefore it appears a nonsense to suggest thousands of new houses should be built in towns adjoining the clogged-up road.

Yet that is what opponents to a housing development south of Grenoble Road have suggested.

But what about those who want to work in Oxford, but are forced to live outside the city?

It hardly seems a sensible - or sustainable - option to suggest people live in say, Didcot, and then drive each day across the Green Belt in order to work in Oxford.

Whatever way you look at the perennial problem of housing shortages, the solution is to build more. The only question remains - where?

That is why a new, sustainable and, dare we say "greener", development on land south of Oxford appears the best solution.

The Green Belt land in question is hardly of any scientific interest.

Many questions need to be answered before the project is signed off. It is no use lumping thousands of new homes on the edge of the city unless the infrastructure is there to support them. Schools, shops, roads and public transport all need to be taken into consideration.

The main opposition to progress in the form of housebuilding usually comes from those who already own a property, but seem hellbent on denying those without one a chance to climb the ladder.

Sometimes people have legitimate concerns in opposing development, but so often it is a case of not-in-my-back-yard.

In the words of Ed Turner, the deputy leader of Oxford City Council, we hope this development finally offers "a beacon of hope" to those without a house.