RESIDENTS in North Oxford have said they have demanded the city council take action over its Local Plan.

The Harbord Road Area Residents’ Association (HRARA) claims the city council wants to build far more homes on Green Belt land than it is required to do.

The group said there were flaws in the plan’s consultation process, including insufficient time given for comments over Christmas. The council's consultation closed last month.

The city council said it rejects the criticism and is 'satisfied the consultation process met the relevant procedural requirements was entirely fair and reasonable'.

HRARA said the council had failed to release the most up to date figures for the its objectively assessed housing need.

Suzanne McIvor, the secretary of HRARA, said: “We are taking this unprecedented step because so much of what is happening around Oxford, not least the potential loss of huge swathes of the Green Belt land.”

But the council's head of law and governance, Anita Bradley, said in a letter to the group: "The city council does not accept the criticisms with you advance. [It] will not therefore accede to the 'demands' which you make."

The Local Plan consultation ended on December 28, 2018 and the city council hopes it will submit it for examination by March.