The leaders of Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council are set to clash again next week - this time at a key regional planning meeting.

County council leader Keith Mitchell and Alex Hollingsworth, leader of the city council, have one last chance to influence the outcome of the Draft South East Plan before it goes out to public consultation.

The plan maps the housing needs of the South East until 2026.

The South East England Regional Assembly (Seera) says that between 32,000 and 36,000 homes are needed every year for the next 20 years to meet demand.

Mr Hollingsworth and Mr Mitchell, who disagree where Oxfordshire's share should go, will cross swords at Seera's full plenary session in Woking, Surrey, on Monday (Nov 29) when the issue will be discussed.

Mr Mitchell wants to see towns like Didcot, Bicester and Banbury shoulder the lion's share of housing, while Mr Hollingsworth wants Oxford to grow.

Mr Mitchell said: "The county council's position is simple and is what it has said to Seera.

"It believes the current planned build rate of 2,430 per annum for the whole county is sufficient and can be managed - providing some of the huge backlog of infrastructure investment can be dealt with. "The Government is pressing for a 30 per cent increase in the number of dwellings to be built across the South East.

"If Oxfordshire was to see a 30 per cent increase in housing numbers from now until the end of the South East Plan period (2026), we would have seen developers build a second Oxford city, second Banbury and second Bicester in terms of the number of new dwellings - is this really what we want in our green and pleasant county?"

Both authorities have sent letters to Seera detailing their respective positions.

Representatives of the county and district councils affected by the plan will now argue over the details before consultation starts in the spring.

Mr Hollingsworth said: "One of the most contentious policies in the main document will be on the Green Belt. Officers had originally proposed a selective examination of the Green Belt at a regional level - the regional planning committee has instead adopted a more restrictive policy that limits Green Belt reviews to local bodies.

"There is considerable disagreement between the different councils in central Oxfordshire, not least over the issue of where development should go.

"The county council has unilaterally decided it can only support housing growth at the current level for central Oxford- shire (1,600 units per annum).

"This is actually lower than the build rate over the past six years."