Developer Prupim, the development arm of the Prudential insurance giant, wants to build 1,000 homes near Wallingford.

It wants to put the houses on land it owns at Slade End Farm, inside the Wallingford bypass but in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell parish.

The company wants talks with South Oxfordshire District Council and the town council, a move which resulted in a split between councillors willing to talk to the developers and those saying there should be no contact until the district council produces its master plan for the area.

Local people had mixed views on the proposals, some wanting the farmland to stay farmland but others saying it would bring new blood into the area.

A spokesman for Prupim said: “Prupim has not submitted a planning application but if the site is eventually included in the district council’s local development plan a formal planning application will follow.

“The site can accommodate about 1,000 houses but the precise number and mix will be a matter for negotiation later.

“We will need to provide affordable housing to meet local needs and improved footways and cycleways will provide links with Wallingford town centre.”

A district council planning spokesman said: “Land around Wallingford will almost certainly take some development but we have not specified any site at this stage.”