VILLAGERS have launched a campaign against their district council’s plans to turn their village into a “mega township”.

Residents of Shrivenham say they are up in arms at Vale of White Horse District Council plans to allow 600 more homes to be built in the village near Faringdon.

Parish council chairman Sarah Day said: “The proposal to allocate an additional 600 homes has the potential for turning this village of some 2,000 souls to a mega township of over 4,000 residents.

“The village services such as sewerage, parking, school and surgery are creaking and only need a small increase in population to hit the brick wall.

“Add to this the capacity issues regarding the A420 and the 8,000 homes proposed for Swindon’s Eastern Expansion, which is set to take place a mile from Shrivenham’s boundary.

“By 2015 Shrivenham could potentially increase by an additional 629 homes and by 2031 the figure could be 829, an increase of 88.75 per cent.”

Villagers have launched a protest petition which will be sent to the district council, Wantage MP Ed Vaizey and the Prime Minister’s office.

The group is also holding a public meeting on Monday night at Shrivenham Memorial Hall, with an exhibition of the proposals from 4-6pm followed by the meeting at 7pm.