A SENIOR councillor will ask for his council to back a corridor for the Oxford to Cambridge expressway which would ensure it does not run through its patch.

A motion will be proposed by South Oxfordshire District Council's cabinet member for planning, Felix Bloomfield, that corridor C – which would affect the north and west of Oxford – is picked by Highways England.

The agency will choose its preferred corridor, all of which pass around Oxford, later this summer.

In the motion, Mr Bloomfield will ask the council to say it is 'supportive of the objectives and purpose of the Oxford to Cambridge expressway, which is acknowledged will support economic growth along the corridor.'

But any road will anger campaigners in the Expressway Action Group, which is supported by 33 villages and parishes in the district.

Another campaign to prevent any building at Otmoor, the nature reserve between Bicester and Oxford, has been supported by more than 8,000 people.

At an SODC meeting next Thursday, Mr Bloomfield will asks members to agree that the council's leader, Jane Murphy, should write to the Government to note the council's preference.

He will also ask next Thursday that 'given the potential environmental harm to southern Oxfordshire, more detailed engagement and consultation should be undertaken on route options within this corridor.'

The road is one part of a plan which could see an extra one million homes built between Oxford and Cambridge by 2050.