A 1,200-HOME ‘garden village’ plan for Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon, has been confirmed as part of plans to house Oxford workers in the surrounding countryside.

Vale of White Horse District Council announced the Shippon base would be used for housing as it gets ready to publish part two of its Local Plan on October 11.

Residents were shocked last year when the Ministry of Defence announced the Army would be pulling out of the site in 2029.

But thoughts quickly turned to how the largely brownfield site could help meet the area’s housing need without building on more Green Belt land.

There was originally doubt surrounding whether the site would be available in time to be part of the current local plan, which designates land for housing until 2031.

At the time, Vale leader Matthew Barber said: "The problem is the timing. If we genuinely aren't able to get access until 2029, for a big development it could be a year for planning to go through so there might be nothing at all in our plan. It's big news and will have an impact in the future but it might not happen immediately."

However, when the council published its draft plan in March, the barracks was included and the document stated conversations between the council and the Ministry of Defence had revealed the site could be released sooner than 2029.

It added in the longer term the site could have more than 3,000 houses built on it.

Plans, which were considered during an eight-week public consultation, included new schools, opportunities for local employment and a country park of at least 80 hectares.

The site will help the district council meet an extra housing allocation of 2,200 it has agreed to take on to help Oxford fulfil its unmet housing need, which has been calculated by a government-backed housing assessment.

Along with the 1,200 homes planned for Dalton Barracks, the plan also includes 600 homes adjacent to Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor as well as smaller sites at East Marcham and East Hanney.

The announcement about the barracks comes after villagers in Wootton and St Helen Without won a boundary battle with Abingdon in August to keep the site within their parishes.

The decision means millions in developer cash to offset the additional pressure on local services and infrastructure from the extra homes will go to the two villages.

Mr Barber said: “The Vale Local Plan is a hugely important document which guides how our communities will grow over the coming years. It is absolutely vital we get this right to ensure that homes are built in sustainable locations and with the appropriate infrastructure to support.”

“We’ve already achieved the major hurdle of working to get part one adopted."

The local plan is due to be submitted to a government inspector in early 2018.