VICTORIA Prentis has pledged to oppose any attempt to build starter homes on Green Belt land around Banbury.

It comes after the Banbury MP spoke about the need to build more affordable homes to help people in North Oxfordshire get on the housing ladder.

Mrs Prentis said any new housing developments to be built in the area must include a quota of affordable homes.

She said: "Personally I think that when you have new developments you must make sure there is a mix of different sorts of homes.

"When you are building a big development you must make sure you have everything. That is true for both Banbury and Bicester.

"There are some very nice housing sites in Banbury but we need to recreate those when we build new housing estates.

"We do not want them to be enclaves but full of people of different ages and backgrounds, and we do not want to exclude anybody.

"We have already had seen a lot of developments like Graven Hill in Bicester where there has been lots of interest."

But the Conservative MP denied that homes in Banbury, even starter-homes, would be too expensive for first-time buyers.

She said: "This is the case in London where prices have sky-rocketed. It does seem like the situation is better in somewhere like Banbury.

The Housing and Planning Bill 2015, which was put forward by the previous Government, means that discounts of 20 per cent will be available on new starter homes.

Developers will face fewer obligations, such as requirements to pay for local infrastructure or provision of affordable rental homes, under the scheme.

Mrs Prentis said: "I was very pleased with that result. I think it's also important that Cherwell uses its Local Plan to help build homes.

But she said that starter homes should only be built on "brownfield" sites rather than Green Belt land.

She said: "We are trying very hard not to build on Green Belt sites and I am definitely against that.

"I have been talking to developers about using various sites, and to the MoD about sites in Bicester.

"Many of these are really beautiful areas and it is important that we do not lose them."

She added that she had spoken out against recent applications to build 5,000 new homes next to Lower Heyford, and for homes to be built in Hook Norton.

Two weeks ago the Banbury MP raised the issue of starter homes with Prime Minister David Cameron during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions.

She said: "In Banbury and Bicester, we have unprecedented housing growth.

"Does the Prime Minister agree that we must build sufficient starter homes so that the dream of home ownership becomes something to which everybody can really aspire?"

In reply Mr Cameron said that he was hoping to push through legislation that would mean an extra 200,000 starter homes would be built nationally.