RESIDENTS have vowed they will never give up the fight to save their beloved park from development.

Tempers flared at a meeting on Thursday when passionate park lovers once again made their case to the head of development for Didcot Garden Town Gerry Brough to stop a technology institute from being built on Ladygrove Park.

Although Didcot Town Council promised it would not relinquish its lease on the site at a separate meeting on Monday, residents found themselves repeating the arguments after Mr Brough failed to confirm if the institute would be removed or relocated to another site.

One woman shouted: "We will fight you on the beaches", to which Mr Brough replied: "We have taken into consideration all the comments we have received."

He continued: "When we were discussing with universities and property advisors they all said that their ideal scenario would be to have a technology institute.

"The site is close to a railway, there are the benefits of the town centre.

"They want it to be in a parkland setting and they want residential accommodation on the campus for their research students and key workers.

"And they want a site which is non-competitive with local business parks at Milton and Culham."

If the draft masterplan for the project is approved and funding obtained, Didcot would lose 17 per cent of Ladygrove Park and 50 per cent of the park's flat, open grassy space.

Mr Brough also questioned a petition against the plans started by Ladygrove resident Simon Hewerdine which now has more than 2,000 signatures.

He said: "It is difficult to tell where people who have signed the petition are from – I cannot tell if they are from Ladygrove or if they are other Didcot residents.

"We have received 4,600 comments from all over the town and we are taking account of these comments, the majority of which do not come from Ladygrove."

South Oxfordshire District Council leader John Cotton failed to attend, and councillor for Garsington Elizabeth Gillespie took his place and ended up pleading with residents.

She said: "The housing is coming anyway, there will be 15,000 homes coming to Didcot.

"We are trying to make this better for you by getting funding for infrastructure that is needed.

"Please can you just agree to the idea of it? Can you not just support it?"

The whole room at Didcot Town Football Club shouted back 'No'.

A delivery plan will be produced on March 3 after which Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire district councils will review and approve the plan.

The public will then be able to view the final proposals on Wednesday, March 22, but due to local elections a public consultation will not take place until the middle of May.

Residents have until Friday to comment on the draft masterplan.

For more information visit: didcotgardentown.co.uk