Congratulations, Rose Hill ('Housing Scheme Wins Approval', Oxford Mail November 8); maybe soon you'll begin to see improvements.

But Alex Hollingsworth claiming we are "getting £20m of affordable housing for £1m" displays the sort of muddled accounting that makes one wonder whether he understands what he is spinning.

The city, up till now, owns that land on behalf of the people of Oxford. They are giving all that land away.

The half that is going to be private housing is lost forever to this commonwealth.

That is the true price of this development -- maybe £10m of community owned land being privatised, enclosed it used to be called, in order to pay the build costs of maybe another £10m on the redeveloped affordable housing.

And the city is pumping in a million pounds of cash as a sweetener on top of that! The council may think that's a good deal -- but land traders and other local authorities think it's a "steal" for the developer.

The Orlits saga has rumbled on for so long, so I'm sure nobody wants it delayed longer, but other mechanisms may have delivered better value, permanent affordability and community ownership.

But it would be more accurate to say that OCHA is gaining about £10m of affordable housing, plus land, for a giveaway of about £11m in public assets... forever.

As I say, congratulations!

Jock Coats,

Oxfordshire Community Land Trusts, J1e Morrell Hall, Oxford