CHERWELL District Council has revealed where thousands of new homes will be built across the district.

Bicester will take most of the new housing, but they will all be built as part of the ‘eco settlement’ on farmland in the north-west of the town.

Three thousand homes will be built at the site by 2026, with a further 2,000 built by 2034.

Two other major housing developments – the South West option, off Oxford Road (1,600 homes), and Gavray Drive (500 homes), have planning permission, but work has yet to start.

The Government’s South East Plan states 13,400 homes must be built in Cherwell by 2026.

This is made up of 6,760 in Banbury and its villages, and 6,640 in Bicester, Kidlington and surrounding villages.

Of the total, 4,536 for the Banbury area have already been built or have planning permission, and 3,258 do so in Bicester and Kidlington.

In Banbury, 2,000 more homes will be built – 1,200 at Canalside, and 400 houses each at a site west of Bretch Hill and at Bankside.

Planning permission has already been granted for 1,070 homes at Bankside, with proposals for a further 400 at the site, and land in the area has also been allocated as the new home for Banbury United Football Club.

Two areas have been allocated for reserve housing in Banbury, 400 at land north of Hanwell Fields, and 400 at land west of Warwick Road.

Land for a further 750 homes south-west of Bicester has also been earmarked in case the eco project is delayed.

In fact, Bicester will take 600 more homes than the South East Plan required, meaning less development in villages.

Overall, the council’s Local Development Framework Core Strategy, taking development in the district to 2026, will see 60 per cent of green fields across the district used for housing.

Landowner Catharine Murfitt, of Himley Farm, near Bicester, who along with her mother Rosemary Henson owns 210 acres, reacted angrily.

Her land is planned for the eco settlement.

She said: “I’m still asking them to remove my land from the plan and not show it in public as if it’s agreed and sold.”

Eco-town campaigner Tony Ives had concerns over the process of how land was allocated for development and plan- ned to go to the local government ombudsman.

Philip Clarke, Cherwell’s planning head, said: “Bicester will be delivering slightly more housing than the South East Plan indicated.

“The difference will not come off Banbury, but the rural areas.Within rural areas we are not making allocations where housing is to go. What we are saying though is what villages are most suitable for new housing.”

The proposals will go to the council’s executive on Monday.

Public consultation will take place from February 22 to April 19 with a final decision in the summer. It will then go to a public inquiry.