A NEW housing plan for Oxford fails to live up to the standards of a 'world-class' city, a green group has warned.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) also implied that the Oxford Local Plan was immoral and not a good plan for the city's future.

The CPRE hit out after two government-appointed inspectors finished a three-week public examination of the housing blueprint on Thursday.

Read also: Pensioner in critical condition after A420 crash

The group's Oxfordshire director Helen Marshall said: "The Oxford Local Plan puts its own wealth generation ahead of the amenity and well-being of its neighbouring districts and effectively throws the Green Belt to the wolves.

"Local authorities and the Growth Board, enticed by a Growth Deal with Government, are allowing Oxfordshire’s environment to be compromised by expansion plans that will see our county grow at five times the national rate.

"Just because the inspectors have suggested that the plan is legally compliant doesn’t mean that it is morally right or the best plan for the city’s future.

Read also: What happened on the final day of the Local Plan examination?

"This is a second-rate plan for what should be a world class city."

Ms Marshall said the plan did not do enough to increase housing density.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth said this week that the council had always aimed to strike the right balance in the Local Plan between the competing needs of housing, communities, the environment and our local economy.

He said: "We’ve worked positively with our neighbouring councils to reach this point and we look forward to continuing to do that as the Local Plan moves towards adoption as soon as possible.”