Plans to build military housing on land which has been empty for more than 10 years has taken a major step forward.

A pre-planning application for 271 military homes has been submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) for the land between Upavon Way and Northwood Crescent in Carterton known as REEMA North.

The 22 acre brownfield site next to Carterton Leisure Centre will provide 93 two-bed and 178 houses for families and personnel at RAF Brize Norton.

The site, which is earmarked for development in WODC Local Plan 2031, formerly comprised RAF married quarters built in the 1960s.

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Planning permission to build 200 homes for service personnel on the REEMA North and Central sites on Upavon Way was first granted in 2003.

According to West Oxfordshire District Council's Local Plan, the 200 homes should have been completed in 2016, but were delayed 'for funding reasons'.

Planning documents prepared for Taylor Wimpey say it is anticipated construction will begin in 2025.

Oxford Mail: The land where the housing would be built The land where the housing would be built (Image: Robert Courts)

Witney and West Oxfordshire MP Robert Courts has campaigned for new military housing at REEMA North since 2018.

In 2019 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) revealed more than 150 Brize personnel were living in Faringdon or Fairford because of a lack of accommodation in West Oxfordshire.

As chairman of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, Mr Courts led a sub-committee review on the conditions of military homes and has called for more funding to ensure service families are not left to live in poor conditions.

Brize Norton is the largest station in the UK and home to around 5,800 service personnel.

He said: “I am truly privileged to represent so many who live and work out of RAF Brize Norton.

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"Having met with the Minister for Defence Procurement and as well as MOD officials on a number of occasions to ask them to work with me to find a solution to use the brownfield site known as REEMA North and provide RAF Brize Norton with the homes they rightly expect, I am pleased with the progress that has been made on this and that a planning application is now being considered for 271 dwellings to be built on this land."

More than 800 homes were built on the REEMA sites in the mid-20th century, but many were demolished after the MoD sold more than 55,000 service family homes to Annington Property Limited in 1996.

By February 2011, all those on REEMA North had been knocked down and just 369 of the original 820 remained.