CONTROVERSIAL plans for a 'vibrant' new estate ‘with the community spirit of a village and the facilities of a 21st century market town’ were viewed by about 200 people.

Homes England wants to build a 3,000-home development at Chalgrove Airfield – but at least 1,000 locals are opposed.

Whether it will be included in South Oxfordshire District Council's Local Plan for new homes remains unclear after it said it wanted to look again at all options.

At least £1.8m has been spent by Homes England on its development plans for the airfield so far.

On Friday and Saturday, residents were invited to give their views at an exhibition in Chalgrove ahead of a new website on the plans launching on Monday.

A Homes England spokeswoman said: “We fully appreciate that local people are passionate about proposed changes in their area and want to know as much detail as possible about any new development, whether they support it or not, so we are encouraging local residents to provide feedback via the website if they were unable to attend the public exhibition.

“We look forward to further developing our proposals and we remain committed to delivering 3,000 new homes and a wide range of additional features at Chalgrove Airfield to create a sustainable, attractive, integrated and vibrant new market town.”

On the new website, Homes England describes the development as a ‘distinctive place that reflects the character of South Oxfordshire and meets its 21st century housing, health and environmental challenges.’

But it references ‘discussions’ with South Oxfordshire District Council, which Homes England said ‘identified that over half of the site could be redevelopment with high-quality new homes in a vibrant community where people can work and bring up their families.’

Since then, SODC has thrown into doubt whether it would continue to back the airfield proposal.

It has asked Government to agree to allow further time for its Local Plan to be agreed.

Under an agreement made in March, the authority was told it would need to submit it by April 2019.

If the Government refuses, the council has said it will include the airfield proposal in its Local Plan.

Any plan would require Homes England to compulsorily purchase the airfield from its current tenant, ejector seat manufacturer Martin-Baker. The company has a lease on the airfield until 2063 and has rejected any chance to negotiate with the Government agency so far.

But residents from the Chalgrove Airfield Action Group – which has already secured support from 1,000 people – said Homes England was at risk of ‘insulting [members’] intelligence by continuing to suggest that there is any chance of negotiated settlement with Martin-Baker’.

In an unofficial poll Chalgrove Airfield Action Group said 168 people had been surveyed. Of those, 161 were against the housing plan.

The website, chalgroveairfieldconsultation.com, will remain online until August 10.