'Put new housing on hold'

9:00am Friday 22nd August 2008

WALLINGFORD Town Council wants a plan for about 400 new homes at Crowmarsh put on hold.

Members said they did not want a piecemeal development, arguing that any new building in Crowmarsh should be part of a composite plan for the development of Wallingford itself.

Town clerk Andrew Rogers said: "The council is worried about the prospect of a slab of development here, another slab of housing there, and the whole thing ending up very unsatisfactorily.

"The council wants to see the Crowmarsh site considered along with potential housing sites in Wallingford as part of a wider development plan.

"The council is very worried by the Crowmarsh plan.

"Whatever else happens, it wants a proper infrastructure put in place in Crowmarsh before any houses are built."

Developers Bloor Homes and Hallam Land Management want to build 420 homes on land off Benson Lane, a development which would double the population.

At a public meeting, villagers said the plan was "crazy".

Nigel Hannigan, chairman of the parish council's planning committee, said: "We favour brownfield sites and infilling. The infrastructure of the village would not be able to support a major development like this."

Bloor Homes spokesman Paul Doyle said that as well as private and affordable housing, the plan would provide new recreational facilities and a link road taking traffic out of the centre of Crowmarsh.

The final decision will be taken by South Oxfordshire District council after a formal planning application is submitted next month.