OLD Marston residents have voiced concern over suggestions their village could be a possible target for new housing.

Fears have been raised following the publication of Oxford City Council's Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, SHLAA.

The document forms part of the local authority's core strategy for housing during the next 20 years.

The aim is to show areas where there is potential to build dwellings.

And, according to the SHLAA, there is the potential to develop 1050 in the Old Marston area alone.

Land has been pin-pointed along Mill Lane, adjacent to The Victoria Arms pub, with space for 600 homes, as well as 450 homes on the Court Farm allotments.

Charlie Haynes, chairman of Old Marston Parish Council, said: "If the city council is planning to develop the land then we are obviously very concerned.

"At this stage we understand that it is only part of the council's core strategy and that it has to provide this information to the government by law.

"If there is any truth to the rumour it plans to develop here, then we will definitely be fighting it. We just have to wait and see."

Oxford City Council has maintained it has no plans to develop the land.

But Andy Boddington, of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England(CPRE), believes it is acting "disingenuously".

He said: "What the city council is telling people is that there are no plans to develop the sites at the present time. But that doesn't mean that they won't in the future.

"Why include them in the SHLAA in the first place if you have no intention of ever developing it?

"Any development in this area will lead to the closing of the Marston/Summertown gap and result in the loss of natural habitats and open spaces in the Cherwell Valley."

However, Michael Crofton Briggs, head of planning at Oxford City Council, has moved to quell fears.

He said: "We are currently consulting on the core strategy document which will set out the pattern of development across Oxford until 2026.

"This means that it will, for example, identify which broad areas are suitable for housing and other strategic development needs.

"To support this document we have also prepared a draft SHLAA, which will form part of the evidence.

"This document is not a policy document but outlines where developers have suggested houses could be built.

"This doesn't mean that houses will be built on this land or that we have approved planning permission. It simply sets out where there might be potential to build."