Oxford is a city that urgently needs construction firms to be given the green light to carry out a plethora of new home building projects, such is its poor supply of residential properties at the moment.
Seven new schemes are set to be given the go-ahead and these will see about 90 new homes built in the near future, but that is only a fraction of the 2,000 properties Oxford City Council believes it needs to build each year for the next eight years in order to keep up with demand.
The Oxford Mail has quoted council leader Bob Price as saying that "nowhere near" enough affordable properties are currently being built in and around the city. As such, the authority's social housing waiting list has some 4,799 families on it.
Mr Price said: "These are really small sites that we are trying to make better use of. But they don't address the problem of affordable housing both to rent or to buy and in the longer term there can only be one solution which is to have one significant site to develop."
The local council has planned to spend about £60 million on the creation of up to 1,000 new homes in a bid to tackle the issue. But it will still need to do plenty more to satisfy demand and ensure everyone in the city has somewhere to live.
It is also overseeing the redevelopment of Bradlands in Old Marston, which previously contained some 30 flats. However, these buildings that were constructed in the 1960s are now being replaced with 48 new apartments, which is a small step in the right direction towards upping supply.
With plenty of house building projects either on the horizon or sure to be needed in the years to come, Oxford is a place where construction jobs may well be relatively easy to come by.
At the moment, the city council has about 7,800 social houses under its control, but it will need to increase this number significantly in the years to come.
