A CAMPAIGNER claims a council has flouted planning rules over a 5,000-home eco town and will report it for maladministration.

Tony Ives, a former town planner for Vale of the White Horse, says he will fire off a letter to Cherwell District Council’s chief executive Mary Harpley.

If he is unhappy with the response, he can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Mr Ives is fighting Cherwell’s plan for the eco settlement at farmland in north-west Bicester on the grounds it is too big, increasing the town’s population by up to 20,000.

Most of Cherwell’s housing up to 2026 will be built at the eco settlement.

Mr Ives, of Lucerne Avenue, Bicester, said: “What they should have done is to present alternatives.

“They should also have consulted a lot more — they have not consulted me at all and my house practically backs on to the site.”

Cherwell has closed a second round of consultation over future housing.

Because the eco town was only announced last July it was not included in the first draft of the local plan.

Cherwell District Council said it was unable to comment until it had received Mr Ives’s letter.