Sir — Your headline article last week appeared to imply that moving the station to the Oxpens site would be incompatible with any use for housing.

However, Network Rail is showing in a number of recent station developments that housing, including affordable homes, can be a significant part of station developments, which together add value to others nearby.

The Oxpens site is indeed a major site that will have a significant effect on the urban development of the city centre.

It is also the only site that can provide the rail station and transport hub that the city needs to support its continuing development as an international and regional centre of learning, science and technology.

Present plans to provide a single extra platform to the south of the Botley Road are widely recognised as only a short-term palliative, when the numbers of rail services, passengers and freight are increasing each year. Oxford’s success as a centre of employment means that it will never have enough space to house all those who work or study in the city, as the tens of thousands who already commute daily from outside the ring-road know well.

A public transport hub at the Oxpens could help to shorten many of their journeys, making their commute more acceptable and sustainable. Developed with some homes, a hotel, offices and retail outlets, it could provide a worthy gateway to the city, which will never be the case at the present station site.

Dr Andrew Pritchard, North Hinksey