Sir — The report, (Having fun on the farm and learning skills for life, February 7) was mainly about Farm Ability as a co-farming project which provides opportunities for disabled people and their families to experience and learn farming skills.

However, the opportunities to deploy these skills beyond the University Farm at Wytham are very limited.

The localism agenda which promotes neighbourhood planning provides a particular opportunity to widen access to farming and horticulture. Parish councils have the opportunity to draw up policies to be urged on their district planning authorities (if they are not prepared to adopt similar policies) to apply to new housing developments on the edge of their villages, requiring the occupation of one (or two) of the new dwellings (possibly out of the affordable housing quota) to be tied to somebody employed in agriculture and/or forestry. The new housing itself is likely to take only part of the land owned by the applicant who is often a local farmer. This would or should enable areas of land to be sold or leased sufficient for viable or even part-time smallholdings to be created around many villages to enhance the growing, processing and distribution of local food.

If 29 per cent of our carbon footprint is attributable to food supply, these interventions in the determination of planning applications would comprise fine examples of ‘sustainable development’ as envisaged and supported by the National Planning Policy Framework.

Daniel Scharf, (Neighbourhood Planner), Drayton