Sir – Town planners in the past have regarded Sunderland Avenue in North Oxford, where houses were built on both sides of the road separated only by service roads from the traffic on the A40, as an example of urban sprawl to be avoided, mitigated only by its avenue of trees.

Subsequently, when considering new developments next to the ring road, the council attempted to protect new homes from the noise and lights of heavy traffic by, where possible, keeping green strips with hedges and trees.

It is, therefore, a striking change of approach by council planners that they now suggest in the Barton Area Action Plan that Sunderland Avenue should be the model for the large extension of the Barton estate on the north side of the A40.

The aim is said to be to integrate the much-needed new homes into the city by creating a boulevard. Houses would front the A40 in the extension and on the edge of the Northway estate.

Ruskin College also proposes building housing on the southern side of the A40 on fields which were included in the Old Headington conservation area to preserve its rural character.

The council hopes that traffic speeds will be reduced by a new surface-level, light-controlled junction on the A40, giving access to the Barton extension, and a 40mph speed limit from the Elsfield flyover to the Green Road roundabout.

But even if this limit can be enforced, the A40 will remain divisive, and dangerous to cross except at planned points.

Will residents really gain from deliberate exposure to the A40?

Will homes right on the city’s ring road be any more suitable for families than those in another once bright idea — tower blocks?

Surely it would be better to continue building behind hedges and trees.

Mark Barrington-Ward, Oxford