DEVELOPERS have reaffirmed their commitment to a major project which could deliver up to 6,500 new homes off the M40.

Last month South Oxfordshire district councillors rejected passing its Local Plan, which includes controversial projects for thousands of homes at Culham and Chalgrove Airfield.Oxford Mail: Harrington map. Image: LDA Design

It will be asked to reconsider choosing a reserve site in case the airfield site is rejected by the planning inspectorate when the Plan is submitted. Alternatively, councillors could reject continuing with it altogether.

Bellway Homes and Pye Homes said they retain ‘confidence’ in their Harrington development being able to deliver homes off junction 7 of the M40 if councillors pick it.

They said the development would sit outside the Green Belt – a worry for the Culham development – and that 40 per cent of all homes would be marked as affordable.

A spokeswoman for Bellway Homes, said: “With South Oxfordshire District Council currently at a crossroads regarding its Local Plan allocations, Bellway Homes, alongside Pye Homes, is proud to confirm its commitment to Harrington, a site we believe to be a bold and innovative solution to Oxfordshire’s housing need.

“Bellway Homes has a strong record of delivering new communities and the associated infrastructure across the UK. Our experience shows that we are capable of not only delivering much needed new homes, but a new community that South Oxfordshire can be proud of for years to come.”

Oxford Mail: Harrington artist's impression. Image: LDA Design

Developers Berkeley Strategic contacted SODC last month to remind it that it was also keen to build homes at Wick Farm, next to Barton Park, in Oxford.

It said it be able to deliver about 1,400 homes there and that 200 of those would be exclusively for staff working at the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Nuffield Hospitals. It said the development would be ‘sustainable and deliverable’.