Councillor McAndrews (Oxford Mail, August 17) seems to have got his kilt in the proverbial twist over my comments on the Today programme on August 12 about housing in Oxfordshire.

If he had listened carefully, he would have noted that I was not opposing additional housing per se. John Humphreys challenged me on this very point and I made it clear it was not the case.

What I am challenging is the Government's understanding of the infrastructure needed if house building in the South East is to be increased by 30 per cent per year.

Work done by the Environment Agency demonstrates the impact of this level of increase across the South East on water supply over the next 20 years. It shows that the whole of Oxfordshire will be suffering a severe water shortage by 2025. No-one will thank us for water rationing or permanent hosepipe bans.

There is a need for investment in sewage treatment, transport infrastructure, schools, health and leisure facilities and for improvement to the centres of towns like Bicester and Didcot.

I don't think the Government has any idea of the scale of investment needed to address the shortfall in infrastructure, let alone what would be needed to support 30 per cent more housing. KEITH R MITCHELL, Leader, Oxfordshire County Council