South east councils have disputed government inspectors’ claim that large-scale new urban extensions will be sustainable and are needed to secure new infrastructure. The inspectors’ report into the draft South east plan concluded that 62,000 more homes should be built up to 2026 than agreed by regional planners, with many proposed in ‘strategic development areas’ expanding Oxford, Reading and Milton Keynes. The Assembly last week cautiously accepted the need for more homes than originally planned, provided the necessary infrastructure was funded at a cost now set to be more than the £89bn originally estimated. But counties in the economically buoyant area west of London disputed that major urban extensions of Oxford, Reading and Milton Keynes were needed to provide more homes nearer local jobs, reducing long-distance commuting. The inspectors, rejecting Oxfordshire’s long-held strategy of dispersing development throughout its market towns to preserve the Green Belt, argued that homes focused on regional hubs such as Oxford ‘have the most chance of maximising sustainable travel opportunities’. Cllr Keith Mitchell, leader of Oxfordshire, speaking to Surveyor, however, said the argument for building 4,000+ homes in the Green Belt south of Oxford did not stack up. ‘It’d be a sustainable urban extension if everyone did what the planners wanted and travelled into Oxford using new bus services provided. But life doesn’t work like that.’ It was feasible, he said, that some would commute to Milton Keynes or Birmingham on the A34, which the Highways Agency has warned is reaching stress levels among the highest of any south-east trunk road and there was ‘little scope’ to add capacity through an Oxford suburb. Meanwhile, Cllr Keith Chopping, West Berkshire’s executive member for planning and transport was ‘staggered’ by the extra 7,500 new homes inspectors said it should accommodate, including a 5,000-home Reading extension. The figures were ‘out of proportion’ to local housing needs and therefore could be occupied by long-distance commuters. The inspectors had acknowledged the ‘unsatisfactory’ travel conditions in the Western corridor sub-region, but argued that focusing homes on ‘Greater Reading’ would facilitate a bus-based mass transit. Buckinghamshire County Council also criticised the inspectors’ call for a 5,000-home strategic development area to the southwest of Milton Keynes, as well as one of around 10,000 to the southeast. The inspectors argued that this would secure developer contributions for the East-West rail project. However, the area south west of the city had ‘important constraints’, which the panel ‘appeared to recognise’, said Cllr Martin Tett, cabinet member for strategic planning.