NO MORE money will be offered up for a controversial housing plan at Chalgrove Airfield until councillors decide they want to continue with a plan for 3,000 homes there.

Last month, South Oxfordshire District Council councillors rejected its proposed Local Plan, which outlines major building development in the region and includes a project to build the homes at the airfield.

The airfield plan, which is backed by Government agency Homes England, is also opposed by Oxfordshire County Council who have concerns about infrastructure.

The county council has said previously it expected about £190m from Homes England to pay for transport infrastructure at the site – but currently only about £90m has been offered.

Homes England said there will be no more money pledged until SODC councillors decide whether they want to scrap building there entirely or submit a reserve site to it if building at Chalgrove is rejected by an independent planning inspector.

A backup could mean the council picks sites closer to Oxford, which could include the Grenoble Road site south of the city, favoured by the city council.

Homes England spokesman Tom Hustler said: “[SODC has] got to have another council meeting to discuss the proposal. We will wait to see what happens and we will act once we know what [South Oxfordshire’s] position is.

“We all need to understand what their position is. Once they have had their council meeting we will be able to engage with them and take it forward.”

The move to potentially remove a cash incentive is likely to raise more questions about the viability of using the site, which has been opposed by more than 1,000 residents.

A new SODC leader will be elected by Conservative councillors at a private party meeting tonight before being elected by the council next Thursday.

Of the two frontrunners, former deputy leader Jane Murphy said the Local Plan was being ‘rushed through’. She said that in doing so, the authority was taking a ‘simply reckless and unnecessary risk’. She had been sacked by current leader John Cotton just weeks before for the comments.

The second candidate is thought to be Will Hall, who was in favour of the original proposed Local Plan.

It is understood that once a new leader is appointed, the process to agree the Local Plan will resume. The council's cabinet will need to recommend whether the council continues with Chalgrove Airfield and selects a backup or ditches it entirely. Then that will need to be supported by the councillors.

Ian Hudspeth, Oxfordshire County Council leader, said: “Homes England originally promised they would deliver the infrastructure and they haven’t so far. But if they could deliver that, it would change our opinion. All we have got to ensure is that we get the infrastructure in place.

“If Homes England come up with the funding we will be able to remove our objection to Chalgrove.”

In another twist, some had worried that some of the £215m in the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal could be withheld if SODC's Local Plan is not submitted by April 1, 2019.

As part of the agreement between the Government and the county council, Oxfordshire’s five districts and the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), parts of the ‘down payment’ might be held back if initial agreements are not met.

Under the conditions, all the district councils’ Local Plans must be submitted by April 1, 2019. The date was set initially so Oxford City Council’s Local Plan could be passed – and another round of consultation will begin on that later this year.

But the chairman of the Oxfordshire Growth Board, Bob Price, said: “Our general understanding is that if we are delivering on the housing and on the infrastructure, that is what [the Government] will be looking at. What the Government wants is housing.”

As part of the planning process indicated by the Housing and Growth Deal, all councils must submit a draft joint statutory spatial plan – which will outline house planning and transport planning across Oxfordshire until 2050 – by October 2019.