There are fears rural Oxfordshire could soon be "carpeted" over with houses as the new government has announced targets for hundreds of more homes in local districts across the county.
Labour housing secretary Angela Rayner said she would make local housing targets mandatory again which means large swathes of land in Oxfordshire could soon be earmarked for development.
Ms Rayner has unveiled an overhaul of planning rules to help deliver Labour's promise of 1.5m new homes by 2029.
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As part of this, a total of 1,051 new homes have been proposed annually for Oxford – an increase from the current target of 762 a year.
There is also a proposed target for the Cherwell district in Oxfordshire of 1,095 new homes annually – up from the current target of 706 homes a year, as well as 1,179 new homes annually targeted for South Oxfordshire – up from the current target of 579 homes a year.
Labour insists it is "finally stepping in to fix the housing crisis in the country".
It comes as major developments have already been accelerated across the county.
This includes plans for 6,000 homes in Upper Heyford near Bicester - dubbed Oxfordshire's largest housing project.
Original planning permission granted at Heyford Park was for 1,175 new homes, approved in September 2022, but the new plans lodged earlier this month mark an almost six-fold increase.
Approved plans also include a 1,500-home development for Crab Hill near Wantage which is being viewed as an extension to the town by locals.
The Oxford area has also had a surge of housebuilding including the £700m Oxford North development which includes Wolvercote.
Once completed, the development will feature a total of 480 new homes and one million sq ft of laboratory and workspaces.
Councillors have accused Oxford of offloading its housing demand on surrounding districts, with Conservative Cherwell councillor Eddie Reeves saying the new targets are a "disgrace" as he fears a "carpeting over" of the district.
But Labour cabinet member for planning on the city council, Louise Upton, said: "We have taken a ‘no stone left unturned’ approach to identifying suitable sites for housing in Oxford and maximising the number of new homes they could deliver.
"I am fed up of people living in overcrowded housing or getting jobs in the city’s successful life science industry being branded 'Oxford's unmet housing need'.
"What we are talking about here is people who need homes.
“The houses needed cannot all fit in the city, even though we allow densities much higher than in our surrounding districts.
"And the only sensible alternative is for them to be built in the surrounding districts, preferably within easy cycling distance, or with good public transport links.“
The discussion comes as officials across Oxfordshire are considering the latest draft of a Housing and Growth Deal plan which includes details of housebuilding targets.
Cherwell District Council says it is yet to produce its proposed submission plan in relation to new homes to "assist" with Oxford's housing needs.
Green Kidlington councillor Ian Middleton has argued Cherwell is the "only district council that has continued to work proactively with the city" and that he thinks a review of the relationship is needed.
Mr Middleton added: "I think the government numbers are massively overambitious.
"My personal position as a district councillor is I would be very concerned about any further housing."
Conservative leader on the county council and Cherwell District Council, Eddie Reeves, added: "For Whitehall to mandate that Cherwell should take a 55 per cent increase in new homes year-on-year without any democratic recourse is disgraceful.
“We must protect the rural character of our county and we must ensure that new homes are built where employment opportunities are.
“Rather than picking a fight with rural England, the government should look to start from first principles. If we get local planning and developers’ incentives right, we can have the right homes in the right places at a more reasonable pace of housing growth.
"Banbury has plenty of underdeveloped land in the heart of town.
"Oxford, too, has good grey-belt and faux greenbelt land that could – and should – be developed in preference to carpeting our countryside with Labour’s high-density homes."
Oxford City Council disputed the claim it had grey-belt land available for housebuilding which includes land on the edge of settlements or roads, as well as former car parks and petrol station.
Cherwell Labour councillor and MP for Banbury Sean Woodcock referred to Mr Reeves' comments as "scaremongering from local Tories".
He said: "After years of inaction and cowardice by the previous Conservative government, and dither and delay by successive Conservative administrations on Cherwell District Council, the new Labour government is finally stepping in to fix the housing crisis in this country.
"Contrary to the scaremongering set about by the local Tories, we will be protecting our beautiful green-spaces and playing fields, whilst making sure that we build the homes and infrastructure that local young people need."
Liberal Democrat South Oxfordshire District Council leader David Rouane said one of the government's main barriers to housebuilding was "the lack of infrastructure" such as "power supply, doctors, dentists and sewage treatment capacity".
He added: "Higher targets do not build houses, nor for the most part do councils. Developers build houses.
"It is far too simplistic to say that the barriers to developers building houses are housing targets or the planning process. In my view, this is untrue.
"There are many sites in the county which have been allocated within a Local Plan, some of them having planning permission, but which show no signs of being built anytime soon."
It was good to visit the Blackbird Leys regeneration sites and see how building is progressing.
— Anneliese Dodds (@AnnelieseDodds) August 14, 2024
These important developments by @PeabodyLDN and @Hill_Group_UK in partnership with @OxfordCity will deliver 294 new homes, alongside a new district centre, and community facilities. pic.twitter.com/9qhrlBC0Qc
Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at the independent think tank Centre for Cities, said "the lack of building in this country since the Second World War as a result of our planning system has left us with a nationwide shortage of 4.3million homes".
Oxford City Council "welcomes proposed reforms to national planning policy" and insists the previous method used towards calculating housing need in Oxford is "not fit for purpose".
A West Oxfordshire District Council spokesman added: "If changes are enacted, the standard calculation for housing need in the district would increase from approximately 549 to 889 dwellings per year."
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About the author
Noor is the Local Democracy Reporter for Oxfordshire who covers political stories from across the county.
She began working as a journalist in Oxford in September 2023 having graduated from the University of Oxford.
Noor was trained at the News Associates journalism school and can be found on X through the handle @NoorJQurashi
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