MORE than 8,000 homes could be built as “urban extensions” at the northern and southern edges of Oxford, city leaders have said.

Oxford City Council said there was space for 4,000 homes in the area around Pear Tree and Water Eaton, as well as for at least another 4,000 on land south of Grenoble Road, near the Kassam Stadium.

The land in the north also covers North Oxford Golf Club.

Both areas lie outside the local authority’s jurisdiction, but are seen as key to addressing its chronic housing shortage – estimated to be up to 32,000 by 2031.

The city council has said it can only find space for 10,000 homes within its own boundaries.

At a meeting of Oxfordshire’s biggest councils next Thursday, the city is expected to press for its neighbours to consider the expansion proposals as part of their “duty to co-operate”.

But concerns were raised that it would worsen congestion and swallow up neighbouring towns and villages.

Developing land in north Oxford would reduce the gap between the city and Kidlington. Campaigners have long argued that building at Grenoble Road would also erode the buffer between urban areas and villages such as Toot Baldon and Baldon Row.

Kidlington parish councillor David Betts added: “We want to retain Kidlington’s identity, as well as the Green Belt strip.

“We also already have enough traffic coming through, and the north of Oxford is already very congested in the mornings.”

Transport campaigner Hugh Jaeger, chairman of Bus Users Oxford, warned that further development on the edges of the city without transport improvements could lead to ‘carmageddon’.

City council leader Bob Price said: “If the majority of people who live there work in the city, which is a reasonable assumption to make, in the north and south there is a very good public transport system they are likely to use.”

By 2019 there would be regular rail services between the new Oxford Parkway station, at Water Eaton, and the city centre, he said, as well as existing park-and-ride and regular bus services.

He said: “There are still between 18,000 and 24,000 homes we need to find space for and we want a large chunk of that to be on city boundaries through urban extensions.

“The advantage of Grenoble Road is that we own large parts of the land, whereas at Water Eaton there are more landowners and it would be more complicated.

“But we see both sites as necessary and desirable.

“The district councils have got to help accommodate the unmet housing need of the city collectively.”

Mr Price said it was hoped an agreement on proposals for the extensions could be reached by the end of the decade at the latest.

The proposals came as a blueprint for a major science and research park, the Northern Gateway, was cleared by a Government planning inspector.

Plans for the site south of the Pear Tree Interchange include a hotel, 90,000sq m of employment space and 500 homes.

It was opposed by campaigners and neighbouring councils, who said between 1,200 and 2,000 homes should have been built there instead to help battle the housing shortage.

That argument was dismissed by planning inspector Christine Newmarch.

On Friday, another planning inspector approved a new Local Plan produced by Cherwell District Council.

Planning inspector Nigel Payne gave his approval on condition there was “a firm commitment from the council to play its part in addressing the needs of Oxford city through [a] joint process in the near future”.

But Oxford’s neighbours yesterday warned they would still pressure the city council to find room for housing within its own boundaries, before considering sites such as Grenoble Road or land on the northern edge of the city.

The city council would need planning approval from South Oxfordshire and Cherwell district councils to go ahead with the Grenoble Road or northern Oxford sites respectively – which also both lie within the Green Belt.

Michael Gibbard, Cherwell’s lead member for planning, said: “We need some assurance that Oxford has revised its strategy for how many development sites are possible within its own boundaries. I would not rule out development at Water Eaton, but it is an area in the Green Belt and we are still waiting for the outcome of the Green Belt review.”