OXFORD City Council has announced they will be buying land to build at least 29 new houses.

The development will be built on the land in Iffley Village between Meadows Lane and Church Way. 

Residents in the village have been protesting against the planned land sale for months. 

Read more here: Campaigners fight plans to build new houses

The land has been acquired by Oxford City Housing Ltd (OCHL), the city council's housing company, as part of the Oxford Local Plan 2036.

The council's housing company has now exchanged contracts on the two plots of land at Meadow Lane and Church Way, buying the land off Donnington Hospital Trust.

At least 29 new homes will be built on the Meadow Lane plot. 

A planning application for Meadow Lane is not expected until 2021.

Meadow Lane and its adjacent plot, Memorial Field, were sold together. 

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The second plot was not included in the Local Plan. 

The council has said there are no plans to develop the Memorial Field. 

This plot will include 12 homes for social rent which will be 'genuinely affordable' as they will be let at around 40 per cent of private rent levels in Oxford.

Another three homes are expected to be shared ownership - providing people with a stake in homes they would not otherwise be able to afford - or another affordable tenure. 

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The council has defended its decision stating: "Many of Oxford’s most important workers cannot afford to live in the city.

"They are now living in Bicester, Banbury, or Witney and face lengthy commutes on overcrowded roads every day.

"Oxford needs homes, and the homes in Meadow Lane will be built within the city near existing infrastructure, including jobs and bus routes."

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, cabinet member for planning and housing delivery, said: “Oxford needs homes and the acquisition of land in Iffley will mean we can build at least 29 new homes in Meadow Lane.

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"In line with our Local Plan, at least 12 of these would be council homes and another three would be shared ownership or other affordable tenures.

“Too many people – including nurses, teachers, bus drivers, and shop workers – are priced out of the city they would like to call home.

"The median house price in our city is more than 10 times what a typical secondary school teacher earns and over 24 times the wages of someone working on the frontline in a supermarket.

“Over the next 10 years, OCHL will deliver 2,245 new homes. Of these, 1,125 will be council homes and a further 301 will be in other affordable tenures like shared ownership – helping meet the needs of our city’s families for secure, stable, and affordable homes.”