Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, the response from Margaret Turner regarding developing north of Didcot (The Issue, Oxford Mail, September 16) shows a lack of objective analysis, community engagement and coherent policy-making within South Oxfordshire district and Didcot town councils.

If building homes to the north of Ladygrove was “the most suitable and sustainable option”, why does the objective analysis of the site options by SODC rate the northern site as no better, and in many cases worse, across all aspects?

She also notes that nothing has changed since previous debates in 1999.

The policy was developed in the 1990s boom times and will not be deliverable in the current constrained economic climate.

Similarly the new political direction of localism, and the abolition of the top-down regional housing allocations, should also demand a rethink within SODC.

She fails to acknowledge the SODC transport study, which identifies significant over-capacity issues at both single-carriageway bridges to the north.

Further building would only encourage significant additional impacts both at the crossings and within the villages on either side of them.

The impact of the flood plain on the northern site, leaving aside the question of building in a high-risk area, results in the site being a thin, ribbon development with access only at the southern tip.

The irony is that these constraints in layout would repeat and amplify the acknowledged errors of the Ladygrove development.

In short, stop trying to push development through at any price before legislative change.

Rather, re-evaluate the evidence objectively and develop for the long-term.

Matthew Clifton, Fieldside, Long Wittenham