A crunch decision will be made on Thursday, October 5, over plans for hundreds of homes in Kidlington which some fear could erase the final gap between the village and Oxford.

Two separate applications – which together make for 488 homes – will be voted on by Cherwell District Council’s planning committee this afternoon.

One of the plans is for 118 homes off Oxford Road, near to Kidlington Roundabout; a site that is part of the crucial greenfield gap between Kidlington and North Oxford.

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Two weeks ago, another part of the gap, a piece of land known as ‘The Triangle’, was agreed to be leased by Oxfordshire County Council to Oxford United for its new stadium.

Fears have now been raised that the two developments together could erase the gap completely.

Victoria Campbell of the Friends of Stratfield Brake, a group which campaigned against the stadium plans, said: “It’s the last piece of the gap. It will essentially merge Kidlington with Oxford.

“A separate campaign group fought against these plans and lost, but a result of that decision was that it was very clear that The Triangle in Stratfield Brake should remain green and undeveloped. 

Oxford Mail: A map of where the 370 homes would be built to the east of Kidlington

“Important sites such as Stratfield Brake and The Triangle should remain within the green belt in order to preserve the Kidlington gap.

“We need spaces like this for nature, and health and wellbeing, including clean air. 

“Disposing of The Triangle at this point with so much green belt already committed for housing is a piecemeal approach to planning. It’s not very coordinated. 

“There’s nothing in the local plan that says The Triangle should be developed. We need green spaces like this to have healthy and happy communities and public wellbeing.” 

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David Robey, chairman of Kidlington Parish Council, said: “What worries us most about it is the impact on traffic.

“One of the reasons we objected to the Oxford United stadium plans as they stood was because when added to the traffic from the houses, it will lead to mile-long tailbacks.”

The developers behind the 118-home plans have been contacted for comment.

Oxford Mail: For many Kidlington residents, plans for new housing developments have been a long time coming.

In 2020, there was uproar when Cherwell District Council agreed to meet Oxford’s housing needs by allocating 4,400 new homes on land surrounding Kidlington, Yarnton and Begbroke in its Local Plan.

Then-councillor Katherine Tyson said at the time it was akin to “spitting in the face of local residents”, while Helen Marshall, director of the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said it would be like “two new Didcots”.