MORE homes must be built in Oxford to stem the soaring prices which are denying people the chance to own their own, a group has said.

Centre for Cities said a North-South divide in the country is seeing prices in Oxford, London, Cambridge and Brighton, amongst other places, soar.

Tiny increases to house prices are reflected in some northern cities including Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Doncaster.

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The group said planning reform is needed so wealth is not simply gifted to people living in successful cities where incomes are usually higher.

In Sunderland house prices only rose by an average of £3,000 since 2013 – while in Oxford the average house price has increased by £89,000.

The city council said it was doing work to increase the number of homes within the city’s boundaries.

Centre for Cities’ chief executive Andrew Carter said: “The best way to address this inequality is to build more homes in the areas that have seen the biggest increases in housing wealth.

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“This means radical reform of our broken planning system and challenging the NIMBYs whose voices dominate local politics.”

It is expected that significant changes to South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan will be announced next Tuesday.

At the most extreme, it could mean at least 10,000 homes are ditched from the council’s planning programme into the mid-2030s.

A plan to build homes off Grenoble Road, south of Oxford, could also be affected, in what would be a significant blow to the city council.

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Alex Hollingsworth, the council’s cabinet member for planning and sustainable transport, said: “Oxford’s tightly drawn boundary and the very limited space for development in the city has constrained the amount new build we have seen, including much needed affordable housing.

"This is turn has pushed up house prices further.

“We are seeking to address this by gearing up the amount of investment in our Housing Company to build new homes, through working with our neighbours to facilitate urban extensions that build more homes close to the city boundary and through changes in our Local Plan to enable greater densification of housing within the city itself.”