A powerful alliance of university and business leaders, headed by Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, is backing a proposed 3,000-home settlement on the fringe of the city, south of Grenoble Road.
The MP and other leading Oxford figures are calling on county councillors "to grasp the nettle" and vote for an expansion of the city to combat the city's ongoing housing crisis.
The letter is being sent to councillors on the eve of Tuesday's key vote on the scheme to build homes on Green Belt land, owned by Magdalen College and Thames Water. Those putting their names to the letter include Dr Anton Heiss, managing director of the Oxford BMW plant; Sir Colin Lucas, Vice-chancellor of Oxford University; Prof Graham Upton, Vice-chancellor of Oxford Brookes University; and Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam. It is also backed by Keith Slater, president of Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce; Oxford Bus Company chief Philip Kirk; and Dr Tim Cook, the managing director of Isis Innovation.
The group says the city's chronic shortage of housing is affecting the county's future and calls on the council to "reaffirm the courageous decision it took last June," to include the scheme in the draft Structure Plan. The county council executive reversed the decision three weeks ago after widespread local protest. The letter says: "We believe Oxfordshire is facing a housing crisis, which is adversely affecting the economic health of the county and inhibiting its success. New housing developments are seldom popular, but we believe Oxfordshire County Council must now grasp the nettle and plan ahead for the future prosperity of the county. "Businesses and public services in Oxfordshire need to recruit and retain high-quality staff at all levels. The city of Oxford is rightly famous for its high-quality healthcare, yet NHS workers cannot afford to live and work in the city, due to the lack of affordable housing. Other workers in the public and private sector on low wages face similar problems."
County council leader Keith Mitchell, however, predicted that many councillors would stand firm. He said: "I sense a lot of inevitability about what is quite a good site. But I suspect the time is not right because of the speed with which this has emerged as an issue. If it happens, it will be after a comprehensive review of the Green Belt, which would see some parts taken out, and other parcels of land put in."
Chairman of South Oxfordshire District Council planning committee Pearl Slatter said: "We are unhappy about this. We are trying to keep our countryside, as our electorate would wish us to."