NEWLY-elected Witney mayor Jim King has vowed to make sure the town never turns into “another Milton Keynes”.

On being sworn in as mayor, Mr King said he would do everything he could to protect Witney’s rural market town character.

The former RAF engineer said: “My watchwords have always been that Witney is a prosperous, successful, thriving market town and on my watch it will always remain so.

“I don’t want to see mass expansion.

“From my memories of Milton Keynes in the 1950s, it was a collection of small villages like Bletchley and Fenny Stratford.

“It has grown almost sequentially and grown very big and the character of the old town has disappeared.

“I don’t want anything like this to happen to Witney. I would hate to see it grow so fast.”

The 71-year-old added: “The RAF dumped me here when I retired and I would think of a million worse places where I could have ended up. I love it here. It’s a great place to live and I want to keep it that way.”

Mr King, who retired from the RAF in 1996 after 35 years service, praised Milton Keynes’ much-maligned road system and its unusually large number of roundabouts.

Mr King, who has served as deputy mayor three times, also said he was committed to helping provide what he called the “total infrastructure” Witney needs alongside any new housing.

He said: “We’re going to need facilities like doctors surgeries and schools and these are what we will be addressing with any of these major big building projects.”

He called for a major overhaul of Witney’s transport links to Oxford in order to help the town’s economy.

He said: “With the problems on the A40, we’re lagging behind other areas and we need solutions to these problems that are going to allow us to catch up otherwise we will be left behind.”

Milton Keynes mayor Keith McLean responded to Mr King’s comments saying: “Having been a resident of Milton Keynes for 25 years I am extremely pleased with the way the traffic flows through a very thriving and active city.

“Milton Keynes’ growth has been very well planned and remains very well planned.

“There’s always been a very clear local plan which allows us to manage our growth carefully. I would support the fact Witney doesn’t want to become a centre of 250,000. Growth has to be properly managed and controlled rather than allowing people to develop willy nilly.

“There needs to be a strong local plan that has been drawn up in consultation with the people of Witney.”