PLANS for a new care village for the elderly near Wallingford have been backed by the town council.

A planning application has been submitted for 80 apartments, 49 care units, and a 64-bed care home in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Crowmarsh Gifford.

CABI (Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International), based in Nosworthy Way, is a not-for-profit organisation supporting farmers in developing countries.

It also plans to build a new headquarters on the site and says the scheme would generate 70 new jobs and guarantee 170 existing jobs.

Wallingford town councillor Lynda Atkins said the authority supported the application.

Residents are objecting to the application because they say it will overshadow a popular circular walk linking Wallingford’s two bridges.

Tony Fletcher, 72, who lives with wife Lucienne de Mauny off Old Reading Road, in Crowmarsh, said: “It would change the rural nature of Crowmarsh to plonk a development of this size in the countryside.”

CABI chief financial officer Ian Barry said its buildings were designed for a school in the 1960s. He said the company’s intention is to build a new office and fund it with the care village.

South Oxfordshire District Council will make a final decision.