Another skirmish in the second Battle of Woodstock is imminent.

The forces of the VanBrugh Trust (aka Blenheim Estate Trust) have proposed a new housing development on the eastern approach (Banbury Road) to Woodstock.

The proposal is for a barn conversion of two homes with an additional 14 homes, plus a nearby greenfield site for 16 "affordable homes" as a carrot.

At first glance, this seems a reasonable proposal, but when one factors in the already allocated 66 homes at nearby Shipton Road, plus the 32 at Banbury Road, and couple this with the plans for about 25 flats at the former Young's garage site, we have a potential major development of 123 homes.

The Banbury Road site was originally proposed as an option in West Oxfordshire District Council's local plan 2011, only to be rejected by the public inspector who stated that any further development would be an unacceptable incursion into the open landscape.

It would generate more traffic along Banbury Road and through the town, slowing down the free movement of vehicles.

It would also detract from the historic character of Woodstock's conservation area.

West Oxfordshire District Council reported that this site should be dismissed because of constraints on access to the site and the quality of the agricultural land.

Tina Rowley, the council's planning officer, at a recent Woodstock Town Council meeting, stressed that there was no need for more housing in the villages as the existing supply of land for such purposes was sufficient.

The inspector's report deemed that the Shipton Road site would accommodate the need for affordable homes in Woodstock for the near future.

Woodstock Action Group believes that Woodstock is faced with an unnecessary oversupply of primarily very expensive market homes on the fringe of the town.

Many of the concerned residents of Banbury Road have expressed justifiable and understandable anger at this proposed intrusion into nearby valuable farmland.

Woodstock Action Group is concerned that once the surrounding farmland and greenfields are breached by avaricious developers, it is only a matter of time before Woodstock is inundated with unneeded and costly homes for those who just want to live here but out of sight of those locals who need to live here.

We support the concerned residents of Banbury Road and Woodstock and have filed a formal objection with the district council demanding that planning permission be denied.

ROBERT MCGURRIN (Dr) Chairman Woodstock Action Group