RESIDENTS in Kidlington have warned their village could face serious overcrowding if building projects planned for the area over the next 15 years are approved.

It comes as a new masterplan was unveiled yesterday at Exeter Hall, looking at where new homes and offices might be built – including greenbelt land.

The village is one of the largest in Europe and residents have resisted it becoming a town, despite having a population far greater than other towns.

But they expressed their worries about the village's future, with the developments laid out in the masterplan potentially lessening the space between their homes and Oxford.

Retired swimming teacher Richard Tyrrell, who lives in Banbury Road, said: "They want to build in areas that I think are already overcrowded, like near to Langford Lane.

"Have these people who have made this plan ever tried to get out of Kidlington in the morning? Often you'll get traffic building up until the police station.

"The Green Belt land is important, but if you build homes there then where are the people going to come from to fill them?"

Cromwell Way resident Carl Smith said he was also concerned about the traffic problems that more building work could create.

He said: "We have always had free parking and we want to keep that in our village.

"If people have nowhere to park they will just end up going somewhere else to work and shop."

Car parking, new homes and new leisure facilities for the village were also of the agenda for residents.

The draft Kidlington Masterplan was put forward by the district council in March after more than three years of planning, and the public can have their say until April 13.

It includes attracting more businesses to set up in the area close to Oxford Airport and Begbroke Science Park, increasing access to car parks across the village, and adding more leisure facilities for residents.

The plan will also provide guidance for planners who are looking to build in the village, including current applications such as the one to build 54 new flats on land next to High Street on the site of the Co-op.

The six-hour exhibition at Exeter Hall was the first time local residents could look at the document and the projects that might be started.

Parish council chairman Maurice Billington said he hoped people would take time out to look at the plans and have their say on what changes they wanted to see in the village.

People can see the full plans and have their say online until April 13.

If approved, the plan will then be looked at Cherwell District Council in the summer.

To see the plans go to cherwell.gov.uk/policypublicconsultation