THE Government has put up tens of thousands of pounds to help a district council plan a controversial 2,500 home development.

Vale of White Horse District Council has been given £30,000 in Government cash to pay for expert assistance with the Grove Airfield development.

Executive member for planning Mary de Vere said: “This funding is a tremendous boost for the development and will help ensure the site provides the infrastructure people want and need. The whole development should be an attractive place to live.”

But resident Don Summers, of Hawthorn Crescent, Grove, said: “I’m not encouraged by this latest development and a lot of the people who have lived here for years, and know more than the planners, are upset.”

A planning application for the 2,500-home project was due to be submitted by Persimmon Homes in September 2008, but was put on hold because of the recession.

It was resurrected last September and the company expects to submit an application in the summer.

The 137-hectare development will include a new village centre, a library, shops, community and employment facilities, a secondary school and two primary schools.

A Persimmon Homes spokesman said: “We have restarted our work on the planning application together with our fellow developers, Taylor Wimpey, which was suspended due to tough economic conditions.”

The council was one of seven in the South East to receive a share of £1m, jointly provided by the Department of Communities and Local Government and Defra.