Sir – Transport and housing problems require a change in development strategy. It was good to hear from councillor Bob Price (Letters, February 7) of the city, district and county councils coming together to present a collective view of the planning of central Oxfordshire as the basis of the recent ‘City Deal’ submission.

However, it is unfortunate that, as leader of the city council, he should feel the need to allay exaggerated fears about the ‘mass urbanisation’ of the county. Oxfordshire has already become substantially more urbanised in recent decades but by deliberately concentrating new housing in outlying towns, the vast majority of the county has remained essentially unchanged. It is inevitable that it will become more urbanised in future.

The relevant question is where should this development be located? The imbalance between jobs and housing which now characterises Oxford city means, as he says, that many thousands of people will have to continue to commute to it.

The need for investment to enable them to do this more easily by means other than the car is, therefore, paramount.

But we should also avoid compounding the transport problem by further mal-distribution of development in future. Rather we should be “increasing the annual rate of housing development in locations which are easily accessible to the city centre and the main employment areas by cycle, bus and rail” (Oxford Economic Growth Strategy, January 2013). Exactly so — but we should not shirk from the fact to do so on a scale which will impact significantly on the present unsatisfactory situation implies a more fundamental review of restrictive planning policies around the city than it is politic for councillor Price to acknowledge.

Peter Headicar, Oxford