A LARGE development on the edge of Greater Leys is again being considered to help deal with Oxford’s housing shortage.

South Oxfordshire District Council said landowners had backed building thousands of homes on land south of Grenoble Road in its latest Local Plan consultation.

The authority had previously refused to even consider the idea, but this week leader John Cotton said it was being looked at to honour the “duty to co-operate” with Oxford City Council.

It came as the district council revealed it planned to find space for 3,000 homes for Oxford, to help of 32,000 homes in the city by 2031.

The city council said it could only find room for 10,000 homes and has called on its neighbours to take on the remaining 20,000. The figure comes from a Governmentbacked report, the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA).

Other ideas being considered by South Oxfordshire are a development at Wick Farm, near Barton, or a “new settlement” near Junction 7 of the M40.

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But an email sent by a senior South Oxfordshire councillor this week – and seen by the Oxford Mail – has exposed divisions over the proposals.

In a message to council colleagues, cabinet member for development and building control Elizabeth Gillespie wrote: “We are not officially challenging the SHMA figures, although we are certainly doing so behind the scenes.

“We know full well that the figures are grossly over inflated, based on aspirational enterprise numbers, extremely unlikely to come to fruition.”

And, she said, a “Green Belt study” undertaken by the district council was likely to rule both Grenoble Road and Wick Farm out as housing options.

She added: “These are no way the only options.”

Yesterday when the Oxford Mail contacted Mrs Gillespie she said: “I am not saying anything there that is not already public.

“I see the need for more housing, but we are looking closely at figures the city has provided. We believe there are other places they could put more houses, such as the [proposed] Northern Gateway business park.”

She added that employment growth should also be spread across the county, with less of a focus on Oxford.

Mr Cotton said: “We still believe Grenoble Road is the wrong solution, but we do not want to get into a fight with the city about whether it is in or out of the options.”

City council leader Bob Price welcomed the inclusion of homes for Oxford in the latest consultation, but he said the number fell short of the minimum 5,000 requested.

He said: “As councils we all signed up to a strategic economic plan for the county with the Government and have all been awarded grant funding based on those figures.

“The SHMA is an independent report and was approved by all the district councils, so it is ludicrous to say the figures were inflated at this stage.

“It is simply illogical to stop further economic growth at the city.”

Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Gordon Roper said he thought residents could support a development at Grenoble Road if it wasn’t too big. He said: “As long as there is quality housing there and green spaces, then the parish council and people in the Leys would welcome this. You have to think about the future and Oxford needs housing.”

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who called on South Oxfordshire to back a development at Grenoble Road, said: “Oxford has a desperate need for housing and all suitable sites have to be looked at.

“Already there is a pressure cooker effect and locals who have grown up here cannot afford to buy or rent here. We need new houses for the city and South Oxfordshire District Council must face up to that.”

But the development was dismissed by the Campaign to Protect Rural England as “unacceptable”.

Oxfordshire director Helen Marshall said: “Oxford’s housing ‘need’ is largely based on a growth strategy which will probably never come to pass. It should use its own land first.”

TIMELINE

  • June 2002 – Oxford City Council says Green Belt land must be “sacrificed” for housing at Grenoble Road.
  • June 2003 – SODC says it will bitterly fight the plans.
  • March 2004 – The city council drops the plans, after opposition from an alliance of groups, including SODC.
  • March 2014 – The Strategic Market Housing Assessment for Oxfordshire says 100,000 more homes are needed, 30,000 in Oxford.
  • April 2014 – SODC leader Anne Ducker says there is not enough evidence Oxford needs so much housing.
  • June 2014 – The city council unveils a new Green Belt study which says Grenoble Road should be built on.