AMERICAN car enthusiast Peter Mullin has issued a heartfelt plea to planners to allow his £130m motoring museum to go ahead in Oxfordshire.

Earlier this year the philanthropist from California, wants to build the attraction on 150 acres of land at Enstone Airfield, next to Soho Farmhouse in Great Tew.

The proposals, submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council, included plans for 28 holiday lodges but they were withdrawn in June after they attracted 250 objections.

Now plans for the Mullin Automotive Museum, which could feature 200 cars with some dating back to the 1920s, have been redesigned by renowned architect Norman Foster and resubmitted.

Mr Mullin, 77, who runs a car museum in California, said: “I have made a 30-year commitment to this project.

“My great-grandchildren will probably never drive a motor car - at least not as we know it. Instead they will travel in secure autonomous pods by a computer.

“They will only ever experience the wonder and awe of the automobile by coming to a destination like the Mullin.”

The revised application has, according to Mr Mullin diverted funds from the restoration of Tew Park so that £1.7m can be spent on community projects ‘in keeping with ‘local concerns’ raised at parish council meetings.

Mr Mullin, who regards himself as a ‘custodian not a collector’, added: “This will provide significant cash for affordable housing, traffic calming, community buses and a much-needed school car park in Great Tew.”

The classic car enthusiast added that the project would bring about the transformation of Enstone Airfield land into ‘something much more desirable than a housing estate’.

He added: “Enstone Airfield is a blot on your landscape.

“It has been a problem for West Oxfordshire District Council since the MoD sold it.

“The 150-acre site is not in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, nor is it in the Green Belt.”

Mr Mullin said his particular passion for the automobile was ‘not only about top speed or horsepower but about the extraordinary impact the car has had on mankind’.

Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson earlier urged residents to support the revised application. Museum spokesman Kieran Hedigan said he expected councillors to consider the outline application in the new year.