Sir – At last, the Oxford Brookes development plans have been approved. Hooray!

Hopefully this will silence the nimbys in the Headington Residents’ Association who have seemed hell-bent on stopping the development at any cost.

It would be interesting to know how many of the people who are so incensed by the development plans have moved to the area since the forerunner to Oxford Brookes moved to the Headington site in 1963.

It seems that almost every proposal to develop in and around Oxford is met with opposition right from the outset, almost on a point of principle.

Witness the recent furore about the plans to build a new station and waste disposal facility in place of the old grain silo alongside the A34; and the knee-jerk indignation voiced about the plans for a high-speed rail line passing through Quainton, even though work won’t start until 2017 at the earliest.

I live in Witney and have had to tolerate significant development in the 22 years I have been in the area, not all of which I approve of, but I can take a broader view and see the benefit to other people.

What are we supposed to do in Oxford — stand still and stagnate?

Stephen Goodchild, Witney