VILLAGERS fighting plans to build thousands of new homes in West Oxfordshire have vowed a wave of protests and claimed a 100-strong rally through the area ‘is just the beginning.’

More than 100 protestors armed with placards and banners gathered at Eynsham this morning for a protest march along the A40.

The group braved the blistering heat to campaign against Oxfordshire Growth Board's recent announcement that it wants to site 3,200 homes in the area.

One of the driving forces behind the protest group and local resident Angie Titchen said that the march was only the beginning.

The 70-year old said: “We have tried the traditional roads, we have tried to work with West Oxfordshire District Council but why do we bother, they just don’t listen to us.

“We want plans, not jams. Creative, visionary plans from our local government and we want them now. We are planning flash mobs, vigils, people are going to come out with their banners and we are not giving up.

“This is the beginning; enough is enough.”

The group - named the Eynsham Planning Improvement Campaign [EPIC], has long raised its objections to the council and Government-backed plans for a 2,200-home garden village near Eynsham.

The group has warned that, alongside other earmarked sites in the area, Eynsham will be faced with 3,200 extra homes, an amount it claims is too much for any village.

It also claims that the new homes will add some 5,000 extra cars on local roads including the already busy A40.

Nigel Pearce, EPIC Core Group member, added that the group wasn’t anti-development but said the plans were not sustainable.

He said: “We support the development of affordable, local and sustainable housing in our area.

“But we do not support development designed to enrich landowners and developers while destroying our countryside, biodiversity and heritage assets and causing even more unacceptable air pollution.”

Previously, Jeff Haine, the cabinet member for planning at West Oxfordshire District Council, defended the plans.

He said that the Government backing for the housing scheme would allow the council to access funds to improve transport links, including the A40, as well as provide ‘much-needed- new homes.’ Last month a £135m scheme to upgrade the A40 ahead of the proposed garden village was selected by the government for further assessment.

The funding would be in addition to the £215m housing and growth deal which commits the whole of Oxfordshire to building 100,000 homes by 2031.

The proposed upgrade package for the A40 to cope with the influx of new homes would help to ‘enable the development of new living and employment areas using sustainable design principles, including improved cycling provision’ according to Oxfordshire’s Growth Board.