WORK will finally start on Didcot’s 3,340-home Great Western Park development in the spring, South Oxfordshire District Council says.

Housing association Sovereign has agreed to fund the first 100 social homes, allowing developer Taylor Wimpey to kickstart the project.

The firm put its plans on hold when the housing market collapsed last year, Bulldozers will arrive on site early next year to start work on an access road stretching into the 180-acre site from the A4130, and other infrastructure projects.

Housebuilding is expected to start next autumn.

John Cotton, the district councillor responsible for Didcot’s growth plans, said Sovereign had put up the money to build 90 to 100 properties – enough to enable Taylor Wimpey to complete the first 300-home plot.

He said: “That is expected to start around this time next year. It gives enough cash to Taylor Wimpey to move things along.”

The construction firm is working on its development plan, detailing the order in which different parts of the estate will be built and timetabling when new amenities including shops and schools will open.

Mr Cotton said: “The £65m package of new facilities includes two primaries and a secondary school, a new high street, a neighbourhood centre and a recreation ground.”

Issues still being discussed included the capacity of existing schools and whether the new estate would need a primary school from the beginning.

Mr Cotton said the project plan should be completed by the end of the year, before detailed planning applications are submitted to the council.

Taylor Wimpey would not discuss details of its plans, but spokesman David Kuczora said: “We are in negotiation with a number of stakeholders and interested parties to ensure that the proposed scheme for Great Western Park meets the need of the local community.”

Housing association Sovereign also declined to comment.

Council bosses conceded the recession meant it would take far longer to complete the project than had first been hoped.

Mr Cotton said: “The question is what rate will the curve pick up again.

“Will it still be complete by 2016 or 2017, or are we more likely to see the site finished by 2020 or 2021?

“It’s all to do with the state of the economy.

“If people are buying houses, then Taylor Wimpey will sell them more quickly. A lot of it will be about how quickly new jobs are going to be created in the area.”