SEVERAL newspapers are today reporting details of what they have described as a secret Government report that could see thousands of homes built in Oxfordshire.

The Daily Telegraph says two new cities could be built in southern England to combat the housing shortage - with Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire or Warwickshire pinpointed as the sites for new settlements - garden cities -that would contain tens of thousands of homes.

The report has not been released and the Oxford Mail has so far been unable to see it.

But press reports today suggest Prime Minister David Cameron has "suppressed" the report.

The report was initially commissioned nearly two years ago after the Prime Minister gave a speech supporting the idea of garden cities.
 

Liberal Democrat party president Tim Farron suggested Conservatives were concerned the proposals could alienate voters in their southern heartlands.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said: "As promised in the coalition agreement, this Government has scrapped top-down Whitehall planning, included ending the last administration's failed so-called eco-towns programme which built nothing but resentment.

"Instead, this Government is committed to working with local communities to build more homes and promote sustainable development.

"This includes providing finance for those large-scale housing projects that are locally supported and have the full backing of the community."