RESIDENTS have praised plans for a 380-home estate in Faringdon.

Bloor Homes, which is still in the process of building its 428-home Folly Park estate north of Park Road, now wants to build on land to the south.

The estate would include land set aside for a primary school, green open space, a wildlife area and up to three hectares of land for office-type employment.

Bloor has been working with the town council for the past year to develop the plan.

Councillor Alan Hickmore said: “We asked the developer to move houses away from the road, provide allotments and land for a primary school and they have taken on board virtually everything that we have said.”

Bloor will contribute approximately £16,000 per child living on the new estate to the county council toward the cost of a new school.

The town council is now in the final stages of producing a Neighbourhood Plan, to define how new developments in the town will look.

Part of the draft plan is a maximum housing density requirement of 30 homes per hectare, which Bloor has applied to the new estate plan. The plan will also include widening the lanes on the Park Road roundabout with the A420 to account for extra traffic generated by the estate.

Bloor technical director Steven MacPherson said: “We will be making significant contributions of section 106 money, particularly to improve town centre facilities.”

After building Folly Park, one of the firm’s best-selling in the country, Bloor gave £3m to local infrastructure, including rugby and cricket pitches on the hill above the estate.

The 27.8 hectare site south of Park Road is currently partly agricultural and partly a concrete works.

Parts of the site are also owned by trustees of the Joan Wilde Charity in Bampton, Brasenose College, Wicklesham Lodge, and Oxfordshire County Council.

The estate would contain 228 homes for the open market, and the rest would be affordable social housing, managed by housing associations.

Sjoerd Vogt, chairman of the Pink Pigeons public art forum in Faringdon, said: “In general, Bloor has done very well in Faringdon, going above and beyond the call of duty.

“There are known problems with the Folly Park estate to do with housing density but these have been addressed in the new estate so generally feelings are quite favourable towards it.”

Tesco is currently building a new store further west in Park Road, due to be finished by the end of this year, which will create 150 jobs.

Vale of White Horse District Council’s planning committee is now due to decide on outline planning permission on September 30.

If it gets permission, Bloor is hoping to submit a full application to the council early next year.