TOO much focus has been given to bringing jobs to Oxford rather than providing homes for people here already, according to the city's Liberal Democrats.

Oxford City Council is working through consultation responses to its local plan, which outlines where and what sort of development will take place until 2036.

But the local authority's Lib Dem group has slammed what it claims are ‘fundamental mistakes’ in the current proposal and said it provides nothing for key city workers.

The party’s leader on Oxford City Council, Andrew Gant, said: “The recent announcement of very high prices for the new housing at Barton make it clear that this development, and others like it, will do nothing for the teachers, nurses and many others essential to Oxford’s continued wellbeing, as Labour councillors have openly admitted.

"They have failed ordinary working people.”

The Lib Dems have previously argued that building on the city’s Green Belt would be particularly damaging for communities, especially those north of Oxford.

Dr Gant said building up to 4,400 homes in the Kidlington Gap, Yarnton and Begbroke would have the potential of ruining the character of both Oxford and those villages.

Hundreds of villagers have already made their opposition clear to any building, which would take Cherwell District Council land for Oxford City Council's housing allocation.

Oxford has said it is unable to build its legal allocation for homes within the city boundaries.

Any of this building between the city and that area would lead to ‘urban sprawl’, Dr Gant claimed.

He added: “The affordable housing crisis in Oxford cannot be solved by tinkering around the edges and using strips of our existing valued green space for small pockets of housing.

“The population is rising and the density of housing will increase - all the more reason to protect spaces which are open and public and focus instead on larger developments in areas no longer requiring protection for employment.

"We have plenty of jobs in Oxford. It's housing that people need.”

City council spokesman, Chofamba Sithole, said: “Both homes and jobs need to be provided in accessible locations to help meet the city’s needs, reduce the need to travel and to ensure the economic success of the city and the benefits it brings can be sustained.

“A policy that only delivered housing on available sites within the city would not achieve that objective.”

The council said already said that just two per cent of the designated Green Belt within the city could be released but only after a ‘robust’ process of examination.

The responses to the local plan will be examined by the city council before a final consultation next summer.