Anger at Oxford greenbelt development plans

Three colleges in Oxford are planning to sell their greenbelt land for development and local residents are furious.

Magdalen, Brasenose and Merton are set to earn over a billion pounds by offering thousands of acres of land and announced the plans back in January.

Residents have set up a campaign group because they are angry that colleges are set to make massive capital gains out of selling off land which everyone has worked hard for years to protect.

"If Oxford is allowed to sprawl onto the countryside, the character of the countryside will be wrecked," Andy Boddington, from the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, told the Oxford Student.

The green belt has been in place for about 50 years but the university argues that more housing is needed and due to Oxford''s good public transport systems, it is a highly attractive area to build housing.

Developers can fit many houses on to a one acre plot of land and charge around £250,000 for each one.


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