Campaigners for a new hospital and doctors' surgery in Watlington are claiming an early victory in their battle for the multi-million pound development.

Plans to build a 60-bed hospital and nursing home in Hill Road, along with a GP surgery five times the size of the existing one, also on Hill Road, have been approved by South Oxfordshire District Council's southern area planning sub-committee.

Councillors also gave the thumbs-up to a temporary building on the site for GPs to use while the new surgery is being built.

The scheme must now be approved by the council's main planning committee as well as central Government, but the initial victory was welcomed by Sir Christopher Paine, a supporter of the project.

Sir Christopher, who lived in Watlington for 40 years, a consultant radiologist in Oxford for 30 years, and president of the British Medical Association until a fortnight ago, said: "It is a great triumph for Watlington. It will result in a much better facility than existed under the NHS. It seems to me that all parties will benefit."

Earlier, he told councillors that the scheme was backed by Oxfordshire County Council, the Environment Agency, the parish council, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, the NHS, and Social Services.

Officers had recommended refusing permission because of strict planning rules and the buildings' "size and bulk" in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

However, Cllr Henry Kemp said: "Like all rules, there are exceptions and this should be addressed as such. There is a huge degree of popular support for the scheme and I don't think that can be ignored."

Cllr Tim Horton agreed there was a difficult balance to strike between controlling land use and providing facilities to benefit the community.

But he said the plans were acceptable, particularly with the proposed "Green Travel Plan" to get patients to the site on public transport.

Clearing the first planning hurdle means the Watlington Hospital Charitable Trust's campaign is still on course.

The trust has been given "preferred purchaser" status until October to buy the development site from the NHS for £1.4m. A Lottery application is pending.

It is proposed that 75 per cent of the new hospital's beds would be funded by the NHS and social services, with the rest of the patients paying privately or through charitable sources.

Sir Christopher said he feared that any further delays at this crucial stage could "bring down the whole pack of cards".

Watlington and Chalgrove GP Dr Steve Nicholson said: "I am delighted with this decision. I am confident now that the project will come to fruition, and we can look forward to enhancing the surgery."