ALMOST 2,700 objections have been lodged with Oxfordshire County Council against its proposed Structure Plan.

The complaints have come from individuals and organisations unhappy with the council's plans for the county's long-term future.

Most of the outcry has focused on proposals for building homes on Green Belt land and the extension of the sand and gravel extraction industry in south Oxfordshire.

Following pressure from parish and district councils, controversial plans for 1,000 houses on land south of Grenoble Road, Oxford, were abandoned by the county council executive. Tomorrow, the full council will discuss the issue and is likely to drop the Grenoble Road development. Conservative county council leader Keith Mitchell is confident the decision will be made although he has no personal enthusiasm for taking away new housing from Oxford's doorstep.

But he acknowledged that, whatever the council's decision, the question of housing on Green Belt land would have to be revisited before the Structure Plan has run its full course. He said: "I'm sure there will be quite a lengthy debate on the issue, but I'm equally confident the vote will reflect an agreement for the redistribution of homes throughout the county and away from Grenoble Road."

Oxford City Council Labour leader Alex Hollingsworth fears the county council's U-turn will make a disaster out of a crisis. He said: "Our allocation from the county council amounts to a mere fifth of what we should be building. We're already in a catch-up situation and now the backlog will inevitably grow, making the future dire for Oxford."

More public consultations are to come before the official adoption of the county Structure Plan next year.

michael.litchfieldgnqo.com

SIR - Charles Young, senior bursar at Magdalen College, Oxford, believes that land south of Grenoble Road will be developed for housing (Oxford Mail, March 26).

No doubt he is looking forward to 'prestigious homes' standing empty like the 'prestigious' offices at the Science Park. I fear that the college's reasons are far from altruistic, but more a wish to 'cash in' on a problem it has helped create, regardless of the effects on the lives of others.

With the proliferation of science and retail parks within the ring road and the 'land grab' by Oxford Brookes University for student accommodation, it's little wonder that there is nowhere left for affordable housing in the city. With unemployment in the city so low, why attract more business and increase the problem?

The city council should consider the long-term implications of its decisions. Perhaps the new chief executive could look at the problem while on her month's sabbatical.

GODFREY EDEN
Wheatley Road
Garsington