Sir – On Monday, Oxford City Council sent out for consultation a revised version of the Barton Area Action Plan which is deeply contradictory.

The council in effect threw out the planners’ previous preference for trying to treat the A40, a national traffic artery, as a city street. In deference to protests by residents, new homes will not be built on the Northway estate fronting the A40.

Foxwell Drive can keep its greenery, open space and children’s playground, although some land will be taken for a buses-only road into the estate, in a position still to be fixed precisely.

The council has also dropped including in the Action Plan Ruskin College’s proposal to build on its fields next the A40 which were put into the Old Headington conservation area to protect its historic character.

But the planners are still proposing that in the new Barton extension the maximum number of houses should be built directly fronting the A40 and the existing hedges and trees torn down, including the central hedge which protects drivers on this busy dual carriageway from the lights of oncoming traffic.

The theory is that this will make efficient use of land and proclaim Barton’s existence. In practice what are intended to be high-standard new homes will be deliberately exposed to the sight, fumes, noise and lights of dense traffic, creating poor living conditions.

It would surely be better to keep the existing greenery and set the new homes nearest the A40 behind it at a right angle to the main road, creating friendly neighbourhood streets. A cycle and footpath immediately behind the hedge, a natural safety barrier, would give access to the two points where the A40 will be crossable safely.

Mark Barrington-Ward, Oxford