Green candidate condemns Oxford housing overspill decision

Larry Sanders, Green Party candidate in the Witney by-election, has criticised the willingness of three district councils in Oxfordshire to accept Oxford's housing overspill. A full implementation of the existing plans would mean thousands of houses being built in West Oxfordshire, with estimates ranging up to 8,000.

Larry Sanders said:

"The Oxford Spatial Options Report shows a much greater daily movement from the West Oxfordshire area to other parts of the County than otherwise. Villages in the Witney constituency are already turning into dormitory townships. Indiscriminate urbanisation of Witney and surrounding areas would overwhelm our transport infrastructure and damage our environment with large increases in traffic, atmospheric and noise pollution.

We can do a lot better. We need to create smaller, more imaginative and more sustainable communities with an emphasis on social housing, which are linked together by well planned public transport. We have to move away from conventional developments that just line the pockets of rapacious housing builders.

Preserving our environment improves tourism and can add to local employment. We can build homes without ruining the countryside and with the objective of reinforcing, not destroying, local communities."