A GOVERNMENT agency has asked to buy land from a dozen landowners for a new bypass in South Oxfordshire.

Homes England wants to build it between Cuxham, Stadhampton and Chiselhampton to help people travel to and from the contentious 3,000-home Chalgrove Airfield development.

Ken Glendinning, the agency's head of strategic land, said it has 'approached' 12 landowners ahead of building the new road.

The agency says it will also undertake mandatory ecological surveys over the next few months before a planning application is submitting in the summer.

It is included in South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan, which was approved in December. It is the only strategic site of seven included in it that would not be built on the Green Belt.

READ MORE: 'Contentious' homes plan for Chalgrove Airfield to be submitted

A Homes England spokesman said: “As a condition of planning for the proposed highway improvement works at Chiselhampton, Stadhampton and Cuxham, we are required to undertake ecological surveys to identify habitats and species in the area of the proposed development.

“These surveys need to be undertaken at the correct time of year and will allow us to minimise the impact on any protected or notable species.”

Not all the 3,000 homes mooted in the plan would be finished by the time SODC's programme ends in 2034. The agency has said it wants to complete them some time in the 2030s.

Homes England said in consultation documents used at events in South Oxfordshire last month that it had started consultation on Chalgrove Airfield in 2017.

Of the planned homes, 40 per cent would be designated as affordable. The airfield site would also include some employment space, community, education and health facilities and other public green space.

But some Chalgrove residents remain vehemently opposed to the plan.

One complained last August that Homes England’s consultation had been ‘in no way’ one.

They said there was ‘no wish to listen to concerns, discuss the basis of plans…or answer any questions on which [Homes England] officers had not been briefed’.

Another criticised the ‘frankly laughable’ value of proposed investment, while another said building in Chalgrove would be ‘unsustainable and unsuitable’ and money offered up by Homes England had been ‘derisory’.

READ AGAIN: Government housing consultation on Chalgrove Airfield was spammed

Oxfordshire County Council was worried Homes England had offered about half of all money for infrastructure that it said would be required last year.

It said about £90m earmarked for the scheme was too little.

But it seems to have now shifted its position and opposition appears to be much weaker.

Last year, it said it supported SODC's Local Plan and was keen to start building new homes across the county after delays.