FEARS have been raised that the views of people in Bicester could be ignored as the town embarks on a major scheme to become a garden city.

At a meeting last Thursday Cherwell District Council leader Barry Wood has called for more public engagement with the scheme.

Announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in December, it will pump £100m of investment into Bicester to deliver 13,000 homes, 21,500 jobs and a motorway junction.

But Mr Wood’s appeal came on the day Chiltern Railways revealed it would change Bicester Town Station’s name to Bicester Village.

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There had been strong public opposition to the move, including from mayor Lynn Pratt and MP Sir Tony Baldry.

At a meeting organised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, Oxfordshire director Helen Marshall said public engagement with garden city plans was needed to protect landscape and villages.

She said: “I wasn’t sure that Oxfordshire in 20 years’ time would be somewhere I still want to live, and that worries me.”

Mr Wood said: “We have to move quite fast to submit ideas to the Government over the next two months.”

Following the town’s successful bid for funding, it is hoped that of the £100m pledged £40m could be spent on roads and £50m on parks and public amenities. The 13,000 homes to be built by 2031 would include 10,000 already planned for the eco-town north west of Bicester, Graven Hill and south west Bicester.