Belatedly, there is a meaningful debate on how Oxfordshire should develop over the coming decades.

We face a real danger the county will become highly urbanised, and the gem that is Oxford, lost in a commuting and dormitory sprawl.

My working life was spent helping the county council shape Oxfordshire’s future.

It was then responsible for strategic planning; the assessment of a level of development for housing and jobs that could sensibly be accommodated, and, securing the necessary infrastructure and services.

It sought to consolidate the internationally recognised importance of Oxford and its setting, by protecting the city’s Green Belt.

There is now no strategic planning of the county by directly elected politicians.

About the time I retired, a Labour Government removed the county council’s powers in favour of regional assemblies.

Later, a Tory-led Government abolished those, leaving a vacuum – with only a vague duty to cooperate imposed upon the five district council and the county.

So there is now a Growth Board of 12 nominated representatives of the six councils; an unelected Local Economic Partnership having a major say.

Business groups and landowners appear to hold sway and a balancing of the interests of growth and conservation is lacking.

There is a local democratic deficit.

There are five Local Plans being prepared, based on a perceived need to accommodate Oxford’s housing outside the city.

They propose massive inroads into the Green Belt, including the destruction of the 110-year-old North Oxford Golf Course.

The city council mistakenly wishes to protect most of its vacant sites for further job growth, even though there are already twice as many jobs in the city as there are workers who live there.

There is undoubtedly a need for genuinely affordable local housing.

Successive Tory and Labour governments have forced councils to sell off their council houses and have effectively stopped them being replaced – this underlies many of today’s housing problems.

Recent governments have had no recognisable spatial plan; making occasional knee-jerk policy announcements, and creating a culture where local councils go to Westminster with begging bowl in hand.

Astonishingly, the Growth Board welcomes a Government contribution of some £200m in exchange for even more houses on already congested roads, and against an estimated £8bn needed for infrastructure.

The Government’s Infrastructure Commission proposal for an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway compounds all this.

Its justification seems largely to rely on it being used as a peg for even further growth.

Huge new ‘Garden Cities’ are to be hung on the Expressway and no-one seems to be questioning why it is needed and the public has certainly not been asked.

The city needs to reconsider its vacant sites – not least because the Growth Board should be delivering more social housing.

A single, unitary authority for Oxfordshire could save money, and help recover power and resources from central government.

Make sure your MPs know your views. Talk to your local councillors – you will be surprised how approachable they are.

Above all, get involved in the conversation; make your views widely known. It is your, your children’s and your grandchildren’s wellbeing, that is at stake.