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Nicholas Falk is quoted in todays Financial Times in an article titled Oxford and Cambridge: tale of two cities shows housing disparity. 

For centuries they have been England’s twin cities, seats of learning and, now, booming science and technology economies. But despite all the parallels there is one area in which Oxford and Cambridge differ: housing.

The leaders of both cities think this will be the vital determinant of their relative future success or failure.

Nearly two decades ago Cambridge’s city council and its neighbouring district council embarked on a programme of development that has seen it approve the creation of a series of new settlements in its surrounding countryside.

Cambridge plans to build 35,000 homes by 2031, of which more than half will be outside the city itself, including the new town of Northstowe.

Oxford, by contrast, has become mired in a controversy over whether to build on the ring of greenbelt land around the city.

Oxford’s economy is growing rapidly and its population rose 11 per cent in the decade to 2011, but housebuilding has not kept pace. A total of 1,710 new homes were built across Oxfordshire last year, compared with 2,700 across Cambridgeshire.

As a result, this year Oxford topped the league tables as the most expensive city in Britain, ahead of London even. The cheapest housing in Oxfordshire is worth 9.1 times lowest-quartile incomes; by comparison, in Cambridgeshire that figure is 6.9.

Rising prices are pushing Oxford workers further away from the city: half of its working population — 46,000 people — commute into Oxford every day.

Bob Price, the leader of Oxford city council, says this is causing “huge traffic congestion”. “We have been arguing the case for 15 years that we need a large extension to the south of the city and to the north,” Mr Price says. “What has not happened is agreement about where the houses should go.”

In particular, the council is having trouble reaching agreement with surrounding district councils — something Cambridge did early on in its building plan.

Kevin Price, Cambridge city council’s executive councillor for housing, said he and neighbouring South Cambridgeshire district council were working across the political divide: “We are Labour-controlled and they are Conservative, but when you get down to grassroots level some of them do understand the arguments. Nimbyism is rife in areas like this but they have got through some large developments.”

Nicholas Falk, a director of the planning consultancy Urbed, says the long time Cambridge spent on building political consensus is now paying off. “It allowed people to agree on the principles of new development before getting into the details of where to build,” he says.

Oxford’s political task is, many agree, tougher: Cambridge has just one surrounding district council to liaise with, Oxford has several.

Article continues: Read the full article here (please be aware this is behind a paywall)