The Green Belt around Oxford, and other undeveloped land, serves a wide variety of purposes. These include flood plain, leaving space for periodic waterlogging, agriculture, recreation, future allotment space and potential for expanding forest cover in the UK for both commercial and biodiversity reasons.

Both South Oxfordshire District Council and our local CPRE are opposed to development of 4,000 new homes south of Grenoble Road. Since this land is in South Oxfordshire, it would not be covered by Oxford City Council’s 50 per cent affordable housing rule, pressed upon it by the Green Party in the past.

So the 4,500 households on Oxford City Council’s waiting list would not benefit. Indeed, Oxford residents able to contemplate buying a house in this area would compete with other potential buyers from elsewhere. In short, we cannot judge that this housing would serve Oxford’s housing needs in any significant way.

A traffic impact assessment for a 4,000 home development in this area has not been done.

A normal estimate would be an average of two vehicles per household in new developments. But this estimate does not cover delivery vehicles entering and leaving such a large new estate, or service vehicles of construction businesses, visitors etc.

Given year-on-year population growth in Oxford, demonstrating that a massive addition to traffic movements can be accommodated south of Grenoble Road requires copious evidence, not spin, from Oxford City Council. I challenge the City Council to provide such a study, which should be subjected to peer review after publication.

Steve Dawe, County press officer, Oxfordshire Green Party, Bulan Road, Oxford

 

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