TWO of Oxfordshire’s leading politicians should get their heads together to talk about how to solve Oxford’s housing crisis, it was warned last night.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith hit out after learning talks about building thousands of homes on the controversial Grenoble Road site had stalled.

Earlier this year Oxford City Council leader Bob Price offered to halve the number of homes proposed for the site to get negotiations with South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) moving.

The site is just outside Blackbird Leys but falls within South Oxfordshire’s boundaries.

At the time SODC leader Ann Ducker promised to renew talks with Mr Price. But it has emerged no meeting has taken place.

Mr Smith said: “Additional affordable housing in Oxfordshire is desperately needed for both social and economic reasons.

“We are a successful city which can generate jobs but we are hemmed in by these restrictively tight boundaries. The two councils should get together and talk.”

Mr Price warned it would now be at least two years before the plans were likely to be put forward again.

He said: “We raised it with the district council on a couple of occasions.

“But they have a very strong objection to any incursion into the Green Belt.

“I understand that it reflects the views of a significant part of their constituency but it doesn’t help tackle the endemic housing problem in Oxford.”

Mr Price said the city council would now have to use a strategic countywide housing plan to push the scheme forward, which would put it back by two or three years.

Originally the city council said it wanted to build 4,000 homes on the land, which it owns along with Magdalen College.

But in June Mr Price offered to cut the number of homes by half.

Mrs Ducker said there had been no discussion between the two councils on the issue.

She said: “We are not convinced that the city council has done all that is necessary to show that Oxford doesn’t have the land to build houses.

“I am not saying we wouldn’t help them but we won’t be building near Grenoble Road because it is in the Green Belt.”

She added: “Bob asked for a meeting but we never had it.

“I am happy to talk to him about it but I can’t see an answer.”

Jane Tomlinson, of the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “The Green Belt protects the city’s very character and that is the reason why people want to come and live in Oxford.”

Mr Price said: “We are one of the fastest growing cities in the country and not going ahead with this scheme will put constraints on that.

“Something like 40 per cent of the county’s jobs are in Oxford. Every time people move out of the city it adds to the traffic problems around Oxfordshire.”