THE city council says it is looking to the Green Belt to accommodate 12,000 new homes in urban extensions (Oxford Mail, May 24).
However, only two weeks ago city leaders welcomed proposals to regenerate the Osney Mead area (Oxford Mail, May 14), creating ‘thousands of jobs’. Why isn’t the city council instead seeking to prioritise this area to build far more of the homes it says it has no space for?
The current plans would actually worsen the jobs and housing balance, and add to traffic congestion in a city that is already falling foul of World Health Organisation guidelines on air pollution. CPRE is fundamentally opposed to the city’s long-held ambitions to expand into the Green Belt.
And so is the public (according to a recent CPRE survey, 76 per cent of Oxfordshire’s residents believe the Green Belt should remain open and undeveloped).
The purpose of the Green Belt is to protect the historic city of Oxford, to preserve its rural character, and to provide its residents with accessible open green space and a vital green lung. It is not designed to be the rubbish bin for the city council’s illthought through planning policies.
HELEN MARSHALL
Director, CPRE Oxfordshire
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