Housing debate - letter to Oxford Mail (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Housing debate - letter to Oxford Mail

November 7, 2005 10:49 AM

The three pages of your newspaper dedicated to the SEERA housing debate talked of a lack of democracy, with councillors not voting according to the responses to the recent consultation. What you totally failed to mention was that this was the second round of consultations. The first, in spring this year, asked whether or not new houses should be built in the Green Belt and produced a large response in support of saving green belts in general, and against building urban extensions to Oxford within the Green Belt in particular.

A lot of the confusion can be blamed on the most recent consultation which the Liberal Democrat Group found to be badly flawed. There were no public meetings at all, the dates and times of the exhibitions were poorly advertised and the booklet produced for the exhibitions were devoid of any background material or current factual information. There were also complaints that no-one was present to answer questions where exhibitions were held and that - the wording on the response leaflet was misleading. Much of the detail was only available through the County Council's website, which is not accessible to all.

This less than impressive consultation was then overwhelmed by the Labour led City Council's resurrection of the old 'build south of Grenoble Road' argument (clearly rejected only a few months ago), now magnified into a stunning 8,000 houses covering large amounts of the green belt.

What your readers have not been told is that only the Liberal Democrat Group voted without exception to keep the green belt free from this threat of new housing. Around twenty Councillors from the other three political groups voted for development in the green belt, and most abstained.

The Liberal Democrats have been listening very carefully over the months to what the people of Oxfordshire have been telling us about where new housing should go. We know there is a need for affordable homes in our towns and villages as well as in Oxford, but Oxfordshire residents told us clearly that they do not want vast estates tacked on to the edge of Oxford eating away at the green belt. Liberal Democrat votes carried the day at County Hall, and we can only hope that those councillors in other political parties who showed such scant regard for the green belt do not encourage John Prescott to overrule Tuesday's decision in future. That truly would be undemocratic. In any event, the final decision will rest with the Labour government, and the effects of his ruling could change the face of Oxfordshire for the future.

Cllr Anne Purse