HOUSING bosses are offering to slash the number of homes that could be built at Grenoble Road to end the political impasse over the scheme.

Oxford City Council has always said it wants to build 4,000 homes on the Green Belt land south of Blackbird Leys, but has now revealed it is prepared to half the total in a bid to make progress.

The land off Grenoble Road, close to the Kassam Stadium, is owned by the council and Magdalen College. But the site falls within the boundaries of South Oxfordshire District Council, which has always opposed the development.

City council leader Bob Price, pictured, said the authority was prepared to cut the total number of homes so it could reopen negotiations with SODC.

He said he expected talks on cutting the homes total to “start in earnest” with SODC next month, following the completion of a countywide Local Development Plan being drawn up by the Oxfordshire Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Partnership.

Mr Price said: “Approximately 2,000 homes at Grenoble Road would be a very satisfactory outcome.

“It would make more sense to have homes at the Littlemore end because of easy links to the road network. There is a massive shortfall of new homes in the city and a housing waiting list of 6,000 plus, with about 500 allocations being made a year.”

But South Oxfordshire leader Ann Ducker said that while it would discuss the offer, she believed proof was needed for extra homes and that this was the best site.

Plans for a development of up to 1,200 homes at Barton West are moving forward, but the city council wants to find another major housing site to fulfil the housing need.

Mr Price added: “Barton West will only partially address the issues we are dealing with, so Grenoble Road remains a crucial site.

“This would not just be a housing development, there would also be the expansion of the science park.

“But it would not be a precursor to wholesale demolition of the Green Belt.”

Mr Price added that reducing the total number of homes at the Grenoble Road site could help address SODC’s concern about the creation of an “urbanised mass”.

Littlemore city councillor John Tanner said: “I’m sure people in Littlemore would welcome new homes.”

Mr Price’s compromise on housing numbers follows Magdalen College and the city council raising the possibility of a planning inspector re-examining SODC’s core strategy regarding the Grenoble Road scheme.

It highlighted the Government’s planning policy framework, which says neighbouring local authorities are now obliged to work together.

Mrs Ducker said SODC would look at the city council’s offer.

But she added: “I’m afraid the carrot will not work because once you allow 100 homes there you open the gate for building on the Green Belt.

“There are still questions to be answered about proving the need for the homes, and proving that this is the only available site.

“Our core strategy is being looked at by a planning inspector but I don’t think the decision regarding Grenoble Road will change.”

The county’s Campaign to Protect Rural England spokesman Jane Tomlinson said: “Whether it’s 4,000 houses or 2,000 makes no difference – the Green Belt must remain intact.”

SODC successfully fought proposals in the South East Plan for 4,000 homes at Grenoble Road and the regional plan was scrapped by the coalition Government.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said he was convinced that building at Grenoble Road would happen “sooner or later”.

He added: “It is clear that the city council is approaching this in a constructive spirit of compromise and I hope that SODC will reciprocate.”

Henley MP John Howell, whose constituency includes land south of Grenoble Road, said the reduction in the number of homes planned showed the city council’s “incompetence”.

He added: “There should not be any negotiations over this issue.

“The national planning policy framework makes it clear that building in the Green Belt is not sustainable development and should therefore be refused.”

An examination-in-public for the Barton West scheme will begin next month.