There seems to be no getting away from the fact that a fair amount of green land in and around Oxford will be developed for housing over the next couple of decades.

Whether it is playing fields inside the city boundary or incursions into the Green Belt, a lot of people will be unhappy with the results.

The pressure on housing in Oxford is huge and the city planners have a responsibility to ensure that reasonable demands for homes are met.

They cannot be criticised for looking at all opportunities to build future homes. The list of county council-owned sites uncovered this week by the CPRE contains many sites - some controversial, some not so controversial.

County Hall and Macclesfield House, for example, are ideal locations for city centre apartments should new local government offices be built as part of the West End redevelopment.

School playing fields and the sites of old people's homes will be less welcome to those living near or in them.

The city council has a duty to consider every possible brownfield site it can before proposing green land. It is clear, however, that the pressure is increasingly falling on green land within the city boundary - particularly in Headington, Marston and Summertown.

If the Green Belt around Oxford is not to be reviewed, then pressure on green land within the city will only become more intense.

What we have is two different debates going on. One of them, into the Green Belt, is going on far away in a public inquiry into the South East Plan. The second, a consultation into future development within the city boundaries, is going on at the same time at a local level.

The two are inextricably linked. A review of the Green Belt would ease pressure on green land within the city's boundaries. There are choices here, but they do not appear to be being offered to the residents of Oxford in a joined-up way.

We are not saying one or other is the right one. It could be argued some of each would be the sensible way forward.

The biggest danger is that the city council goes ahead earmarking swathes of green land within the city for housing development while the inquiry into the South East plan comes down in favour of incursions into the Green Belt.

We have already had indications that a Gordon Brown-led Government would be more aggressive on housing targets.

Oxford could find itself with many more homes than it bargained for.