There is a great temptation when demand for homes is growing and prices are soaring to say that we should build more and more.

The Government clearly sees it as a vote-winner if it can provide reasonably-priced housing, particularly for young people trying to get on the property ladder.

But new housing must go hand in hand with improvements in public services such as water, sewerage, transport, shopping and jobs.

Keith Mitchell, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, makes a timely intervention in the debate over future housing with a warning that there could be a permanent shortage of water in the county.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gives great weight to the need for extensive house building in the South East.

But has he really thought through the rest of the equation - the infrastructure to support such a huge amount of building? It appears not.

It is essential that the two proceed in tandem.

The threat of having thousands of new homes thrust upon a rural county like Oxfordshire is bad enough.

To have that amount of development without the necessary services to support it is asking for trouble.