COACHLOADS of campaigners will fight ‘reckless and irresponsible’ plans to build almost 4,000 homes on Green Belt land at a crunch council meeting.

Villagers from Kidlington, Yarnton and Begbroke will board ‘battle buses’ to stage a protest when Cherwell District Council meets on Monday to decide on proposals for 4,400 homes north of Oxford.

Golfers from North Oxford Golf Club – whose course is also under threat – will join the masses outside the council offices in Bodicote, as will members of the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

The Kidlington Development Watch (KDW) group said: “This is our last chance to make Cherwell listen.

“Campaign groups are lobbying hard to see the plan deferred or rejected.

“We plan to be there in numbers to make sure the councillors hear our concerns.”

The plans – to help Oxford’s unmet housing need – would see a 1,950-home community built east of the A44 at Begbroke and 1,180 homes north of Oxford between Cutteslowe and the A34, including on North Oxford Golf Club.

A further 440 homes are planned west of the A44 near Yarnton, with 330 more on the south and east boundaries of Kidlington and 500 on the edge of Woodstock.

The Begbroke and Yarnton Green Belt campaign has collaborated with KDW over the buses and has also rallied its villagers to get on board.

CPRE Oxfordshire director, Helen Marshall, said Oxford could accommodate its need within its boundaries.

She said: “It would be reckless and irresponsible for councillors to agree to unless they were sure they were needed and Oxford could not accommodate them.

“CPRE can show that Oxford could accommodate most if not all of its stated housing need by prioritising land for housing rather than more job creation, and building at the higher densities appropriate to cities.”

Members of North Oxford Golf Club have set up a group – Greenway Oxon – to save the 110-year-old course for its near-500 golfers.

Club member, David Adcock, said its clubhouse was also a vital community asset and was used about 450 times last year for non-golfing events by more than 6,000 people.

He said: “Cherwell planners have totally overlooked the contribution NOGC makes in the community.

“The club is a thriving social hub and it is the contribution the club makes to the non-golfing community that deserves special attention.

“There have been yoga and pilates classes, bridge sessions, training courses, birthday parties, discos and quiz nights.

“There were also lunches and dinners for hockey players, cricketers and Rotarians, meetings of societies, tennis associations and osteopaths.”

“Come on Cherwell councillors, don’t destroy a valued community asset 110 years in the making.”

A decision is expected to be made on Monday at 6.30pm.