A beauty spot could be bulldozed to make way for a major housing estate on the outskirts of Oxford.

Controversial plans would result in 121 new houses being built over two green fields in Sandhills to the east of the city.

Warwickshire-based company Cilldara Group also wants to construct an 80-bed care home on the land.

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But its planning application to South Oxfordshire District Council has faced backlash from Oxford folk.

Dozens of them have objected to the plans in a public consultation run by the council.

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They fear losing the “desirable” fields which give a “countryside feeling” to the Sandhills estate.

One objector Rachel Mullins from Headington is worried about losing access to Bayswater Brook, which runs to the northern edge of the fields.

She said: “It would be a great loss to the area as I have never known such a beautiful brook in the Oxford area so easily accessible.

“There is no way that this piece of nature would not be distributed by this development.”

In another comment, householder Cushla Cooper added: “Recent years and a worldwide pandemic indicates green spaces are required for urban residents.

“Space is needed for mental health and provides much needed respite from an already built up area.

“The reason the area is so desirable is because of the space surrounding it. This plan takes that away, for reasons that don't make sense.

“There are empty buildings all over Oxfordshire which could be used for rest-home and affordable home purposes. Why build more?”

The intended site is part of a larger piece of land earmarked for 1,100 new homes in the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035.

Christ Church and Dorchester Homes have already submitted plans for 1,450 homes on another part of the land.

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And Cilldara has submitted the new plans despite the council’s intention to remove the Sandhills parcel of land as an allocated housing site.

In the new Joint Local Plan 2041 with Vale of White Horse District Council, Sandhills is one of four sites that has been deallocated.

The list also includes Chalgrove Airfield, which is no longer designated for 3,000 homes, as it was in the previous local plan.

If the new local plan is approved, it would make Cilldara’s job to secure planning permission more difficult.

Cilldara Group and Carter Jonas, the company’s planning agents, have been contacted for comment.

In a design and access statement submitted with the plans, Carter Jonas said there would be green infrastructure in the development.

The statement said: “The green spaces, in particular to the north of the site, are a unique benefit to the site, and provide a strategic east-west open space along the length of the site, following the Bayswater Brook.”