Confused policies (From The Oxford Times)

Confused policies

6:40am Friday 19th October 2007 in

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Sir - Your leader (October 12) describes CPRE's proposal for a Green Grid for Oxford as a "welcome addition to the debate on protecting Oxford's cherished spaces."

We do not, however, as you and city council leader John Goddard imply, see the Green Grid as involving sacrificing green space outside the city in order to preserve sites within.

We continue to believe that the proposal for an urban extension south of Grenoble Road is the wrong approach to solving the problems of affordable housing, and would be detrimental to both the compact urban character of the city, and to the meadows and hills that surround it.

In calling for a Green Grid, we are advocating an end to viewing the green spaces within the city as separate from those outside.

We wish to enhance the significance of the Green Belt, not just as a girdle around the city to prevent sprawl, but as an integral part of the cityscape.

The urgency for broader thinking is no better illustrated than by the policy adopted last week by a Government advisory body, Natural England.

This appears to support housing development where it would not previously have been allowed, including within the Green Belt. The result will be fragmentation of England's green landscapes, reducing their benefit for people and wildlife, and it will unleash urban sprawl that will erode the rural character of this county.

It is precisely to counter this sort of confused policy making and to prevent the piecemeal erosion of green spaces, both within and around Oxford, that we are proposing a Green Grid.

Bruce Tremayne, Chairman, Campaign to Protect Rural England Oxfordshire, Holton