PLANS to move a noisy main road six metres closer to a people’s homes as part of a new housing estate have been described as ‘unbelievable’ by the villagers.

Residents of Robert Sparrow Gardens in Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford say the noise from the A4074 already echoes around the estate at all hours.

Now Avant Homes is proposing to widen the ‘Wallingford Bypass’ as part of plans for a 100-home estate nearby, and a decision will be made tonight.

Parish councillor Steve Sherbourne said: “There is a major issue on the bypass: either a motorcycle or a car accelerating you can hear it all around.

“They do it late at night and early on Sunday mornings.”

Locals are also worried that expanding the road – to help cope with extra traffic from the estate – will not do anything to improve the A4074’s poor safety record.

In July last year Wallingford plasterer Wayne Curran was killed at the Berinsfield roundabout; Crowmarsh barman Kevin Johnson was killed in a crash on the A4074 the year before, and there are frequently crashes involving cars and bikes near the village.

One resident of Robert Sparrow Gardens, Sarah Roberts, has commented on the plans: “The speed and volume of traffic on this road is wholly unacceptable and to invite a further possibly 200 or more cars to join this road is unthinkable.”

Avant Homes’ plan is to build its estate on a farmer’s field to the west of the A4074 on the opposite side of the road from Robert Sparrow Gardens.

As part of an entrance road onto the estate, the developer has proposed widening the road to the east – towards the existing homes.

Avant originally wanted to widen the road by 8m, but after South Oxfordshire District Council complained the firm reduced it to six.

The company now says the proposed junction would ‘enable a reduction in queues and delays’ on the road.

Avant has also included plans for a traffic light-controlled toucan crossing over the A4074 which Mr Sherbourne said was the ‘one good thing’ about the plan.

Oxfordshire County Council’s highways team has now said it has now objections to the plan.

However another major objection from locals is the fact the entire site is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Under the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way Act, local authorities are required to help ‘conserve and enhance the natural beauty of AONBs’.

However, Avant has argued that part of the site is already partially developed and most of it is well-screened by tall trees.

The Chilterns AONB board which manages the area and aims to protect it has now said it has no objection to the plans.

In its official comment to South Oxfordshire District Council the board praised the ‘landscape-led approach’ which had ‘reduced impact on views from the higher AONB footpaths to the east’.

Crowmarsh Parish Council has said throughout the various changes of plan that the housing estate should be refused outright.

South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee will meet at Didcot Civic Hall from 6pm tonight.