NORTH Leigh residents breathed a sigh of relief after proposals for a 20-home development on the edge of the village were thrown out.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s lowlands planning sub-committee voted against the plans for the site behind Park Road, which had generated more than 50 objections from residents.

The site is a historically contentious one, with plans for just a single home dismissed after being brought to appeal before a government planning inspector.

Council leader and North Leigh representative Barry Norton said he was pleased with the committee’s decision.

He said: “Clearly it is a site with a lot of history for people and we were just defending it.

“If the previous decision by the inspector said one home was too many, then 20 is definitely too many.

“But it is too early to say if North Leigh will have to shoulder any extra homes because of recent housing report figures.”

At the same meeting last Monday, councillors also voted to grant a 66-home extension to a 250-home site in Carterton.

David Wilson Homes put in the application, for the area bordered by Swinbrook Road and Kilkenny Lane.

The approval was given with legal conditions, a council spokeswoman said.

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