VILLAGERS living on the edge of Didcot claim a new 2,030-home estate north east of the town would cause major traffic congestion.

They fear a flood of extra vehicles past their homes and ‘nightmare’ queues of traffic at the river bridges at Clifton Hampden and Culham.

And the villagers said they did not believe developers’ assurances that most of the traffic from the new estate would travel south to get on to the A34.

Residents of Long Wittenham, Clifton Hampden, Appleford, Culham and Sutton Courtenay fear the extra traffic heading to Oxford, Abingdon and Culham Science Centre would only add to already growing congestion on local roads.

In March, Croudace Homes submitted early plans to South Oxfordshire District Council seeking its views about the estate on land owned by Reading University.

Last month, the first of a series of consultations was staged by the developers. Now they have said they will look at the feedback and come back in the summer with more proposals on traffic.

Tom Bowtell, chairman of Long Wittenham Parish Council, said: “The river bridges at Clifton Hampden and Culham are already at capacity during peak times, and with the new homes the queues will be a nightmare.

“Developers say most traffic will travel south and use the ring road to access the Didcot-Milton main road to get on to the A34.

“But we are not convinced and are urging the developers, the district council and county council to ensure that measures are put in place to deter drivers from using roads to the north as a rat run.”

Mr Bowtell said the two river bridges were already at capacity during peak times.

He added that the last traffic study in 2011 showed that vehicle movements at Clifton Hampden bridge, including 250 per hour going north at peak times, were five per cent higher than in a similar test in 2006.

Father-of-three Mr Bowtell, 44, who works in the paint industry, said two proposed exits from the development on to the north/south B4016 should be scrapped.

He called for more traffic-calming measures in Long Wittenham and for funding from the developers to create a cycle path from Long Wittenham to Clifton Hampden.

Didcot Town Council chairman Margaret Davies said: “People living in Didcot are concerned about extra traffic, and new pedestrian crossings are needed on the A4130 northern perimeter road.

“A lot of people think the speed limit on that stretch should be reduced from 50mph to 30mph.”

Developers’ spokesman Nick Chancellor said: “We will now look at this feedback in detail and in the summer we will present what we are planning to do in terms of highways, and seek further responses.”

The development would include a leisure centre, a nursery, primary schools, a secondary school and a care home on land between the A4130 and the B4016.

The site has already been earmarked in the council’s core strategy of where 10,000 new homes, including 9,000 in the Didcot area, will go between now and 2026.

A full planning application has not yet been submitted, but developers say work could start early next year, with the first homes completed late in 2014.

Croudace Homes hopes to build 200 homes a year up to 2026.