Your correspondent Mick McAndrews (Oxford Mail, August 14) asserts that the county council does not care about the 'vast numbers of homeless people in Oxford'. He could not be more wrong.

I, in common with the majority of the council, took the view that the much-needed housing would best be provided in a number of locations across the county rather than in ill-considered incursions on to Green Belt land south of Grenoble Road.

The latest version of the Draft Structure Plan not only provides for the extra houses requested by the Government, some 37,000 to 2016, but also proposes that an extra 800 dwellings be provided on brownfield sites in Oxford.

This addition was opposed by many Labour members on the county council and has been solidly opposed by the city Labour administration.

Homes are needed not only in the city, but across Oxfordshire. Building even 5,000 homes on Green Belt land in south Oxfordshire would not solve the city's housing problems as the total need is much higher.

We need to work together to see where new homes can be provided which will offer good communities, not lead to urban sprawl nor destroy the character or setting currently enjoyed by city residents.

If he is serious about housing those in need, Cllr McAndrews should be pressing his fellow Labour members to build as many affordable houses as possible in the city, as proposed, and to support the county policy of employment restraint in Oxford to allow housing to take precedence over jobs. JEAN FOOKS, Liberal Democrat city and county councillor, St Bernard's Road, Oxford