A DEVELOPER has launched an appeal after a controversial plan to build 140 homes near Bicester Village shopping centre was refused planning permission.

Abingdon firm Leda Properties put forward plans for flats and houses off Talisman Road but its planning application was rejected by Cherwell District Council in January Councillors said enough houses were planned for the town in the eco-town development to the north-west of Bicester and it needed more business space.

The firm’s appeal will be heard at a public inquiry by the Planning Inspectorate on July 5.

Richard Mould, chairman of Bicester Town Council planning committee, said the land next to London Road and south of Talisman Business Centre should be reserved for industrial development.

He said: “We already have something like 7,500 houses in the pipeline and we really do not need these windfall sites.

“We need industry to employ the people coming here to live.”

Leda director Nick Hardcastle said: “We will demonstrate at the public inquiry that even with other developments in the pipeline, the district does not have an adequate supply of housing land to meet the assumed demand.”