A BRIDGE bearing homes and shops could be built over the A34 as the centrepiece of a new eco-town near Weston-on-the-Green.

The developer says the high street of the new town would "float over" the busy trunk road to link the two halves of the proposed Weston Otmoor development.

The developer claims the structure is inspired by such celebrated bridges as Florence's Ponte Vecchio and Pulteney Bridge in Bath.

A new settlement close to the A34/M40 junction, which would be bigger than Bicester, has made it on to the Government shortlist of 15 proposed eco-towns. It is believed ten will be chosen.

But as local people stepped up their campaign against the 15,000 homes planned for 800 acres of farmland, new details of the Weston Otmoor scheme submitted to the Government by Parkridge Holdings have emerged.

The glossy 32-page brochure sent to the Government and county council says the site was bisected by the A34 but sets out to show how the difficulty would be overcome.

It says: "We shall bridge over it, using examples from elsewhere, notably Birmingham, London, Bath, Lincoln and Florence.

"The main high street would float over the A34 integrating the north and south of the town. Leisure facilities, parks, school playing fields, shops and dwellings all exist in bridges elsewhere.

"By using historical examples of bridge design such as the Old London Bridge over the River Thames, High Bridge Lincoln and the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the high street of Weston Otmoor would form a bridge over the A34, so the visual experience for the pedestrian and shopper is undisturbed."

The developer pledges to invest massively in public transport, even offering to fund the long-awaited East-West Rail Link.

Despite the fact that the estimated cost of the link has been put at £190m, Parkridge says: "A key, and indeed fundamental, component of the scheme is the delivery of the East-West Link between Oxford and Milton Keynes, which will be funded by the developers and implemented as part of it.

"A new station will be built. Up to five trains per hour in each direction (to Oxford in six minutes) will be provided. A chord line to Bicester will mean a one-hour journey time to London."

The eco-town would also have a tram system.

The leader of Oxfordshire County Council, Keith Mitchell, said the promise of such infrastructure investment meant the council would not oppose the scheme out of hand.

But he remained sceptical about the scheme's impact on the locality and whether it would stack up financially.