RESIDENTS will be able to build their own home on a Bicester estate without the need for planning permission.

Last night Cherwell District Council’s executive adopted a Local Development Order (LDO) for Graven Hill.

The council has bought the former MoD site and hopes to create the country’s largest self-build development of 1,900 homes.

Executive member for planning Michael Gibbard told councillors the order would speed up development of the site.

House builders will still have to comply with a masterplan and design code for the project, but it will allow “some individuality and variety”.

But the proposal has come under fire from Andrew Whitaker, a planning director with the National House Builders Federation.

Cllr Gibbard said Mr Whitaker had responded to the LDO consultation by saying there was “no way we will deliver 1,900 self-build homes. I think perhaps he would say that anyway and I look forward to proving him wrong.”

There were no other objections to the order.

Cllr Gibbard said: “This is the first time an LDO has been promoted for a new build residential on this scale. It only goes to demonstrate how Cherwell is an innovative and forward thinking council.”