The prospect of 100,000 new homes having to be built in Oxfordshire was always going to stir widespread alarm. But the nonsensical way we have ended up with such a figure has now become all too clear.


At the Government’s insistence, district councils went to a consultant to find the number of homes needed in the county. The leaders of those very same district councils have this week joined the chorus of protest about the methodology used to come up with such a massive figure — and are even supporting demands for a review.


Is it a question of having gone to the wrong consultants, or having simply been given back answers they did not want to hear? Either way, we remain among those still to be convinced that 100,000 new homes would deliver affordable homes for local people, rather than attracting thousands of commuters and newcomers to the county.