PLANNING rules could be relaxed to allow new homes to be built in villages to relieve a housing shortage.

Vale of White Horse District Council needs to provide 808 homes after failing to meet a housing target set five years ago.

Developers are heavily restricted under current guidelines but the new Conservative council wants to allow more homes to be built in villages to tackle the problem.

But Helen Marshall, director of Campaign to Protect Rural England in Oxfordshire, criticised the move.

She said: “Adding as much as nine per cent additional housing to villages will have enormous repercussions.

“The fact the Vale is trying to push through developments in a hurry risks bad decisions and bad building which could ruin beautiful countryside forever.”

Current guidelines limit development to sites of up to 15 homes in large villages, up to four homes in small villages, and one or two homes in hamlets.

But council leader Matthew Barber said if smaller sites were not made available developers could press to build on unspecified, less acceptable land.

He said: “It will actually help local pubs, local shops and allow local people to stay.

“If there is a proposal that isn’t appropriate to the local area then we still have the power to refuse.”

Currently there are about 2,370 households waiting for affordable housing in the district.

Mr Barber added: “We have a huge number of people on our affordable housing list who are in desperate need of homes. There are people waiting for homes that can’t have them.”

The council’s Interim Housing Supply Policy will run until 1,000 homes are built or until the Vale adopts its core strategy which sets out how the district will grow over the next 15 years.

The council had aimed to deliver 2,890 homes between 2006/07 and 2010/2011 but only 2,082 were built due to delays on large housing sites like the 2,500 home scheme at Grove Airfield.

Letcombe Regis Parish Council chairman John Griffiths said any housing would have to come with infrastructure.

He added: “The problem of course is where you put them in an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is not a devastating problem. It is something you will have to tackle and think about.”

East Hanney Parish Council chairman Bob Spencer said he thought there was no room for 31 more houses in the village, but said he would not oppose any scheme until planning applications were submitted.

Some 62 homes could be built in Marcham.

Marcham Parish Council chairman David Walton said he was worried it would not solve the housing shortage, adding: “The problem is the very slow housing market. It has meant developers have been reluctant to go forward.”

Consultation on the draft plan will run until November 25 and the proposal will have to approved by the full council.

bwilkinson@oxfordmail.co.uk * For details visit whitehorsedc.gov.uk/spds