Sir – Oxford City Council’s proposals for its Core Strategic Plan include the building of 8,000 new houses plus business park and all that goes with it.

This seems to be another wheeze to get the public’s approval in advance and then planning consent, imperceptibly altering the character of the place. Some 8,000 houses in or near the core of the city would be a major expansion. Is this what we really want for Oxford? Is it necessary? That number?

The demand and need for houses changes all the time and should be under constant review, brought up to date and reflected in the strategic plan.

It might be worth considering another option altogether, that is to reduce the numbers radically. If you reduce 8,000 to 800 would anyone suffer?

One could almost go as far to suggest an actual ‘no growth area’. This would preserve our historic cities and keep them in their surrounding landscape. Unfortunately, development of any kind usually begets more development. This is not necessarily beneficial to Oxford.

Mrs Mallows’ letter (October 7) suggests “less is more” (Mies). I would couple that with another philosophical maxim “small is beautiful” (Schumacher) — as relevant today as in 1973.

All the signs point to a complete in-depth review not only of detail but to the basic intentions and purpose of, and approach to, planning, in particular to what is left of open spaces in the South East of England.

Mr Peter Gresswell Stanton St John