People living in a rural village have formed a community action group to combat the building of new housing developments in their area.

The Keep Hanwell Village Rural community group is comprised of people living in the historic ironstone village, as well as nearby villages.

The group was formed after an application to build 170 houses in fields between Hanwell and Banbury was submitted in August.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire Just Stop Oil protesters arrested in London

Concerns were raised by people living in the area about increased traffic and pollution, the loss of countryside and of the village’s ‘rural’ identity.

Chris Brant, chair of Keep Hanwell Village Rural, explained: “Residents in Hanwell and in neighbouring villages have simply had enough of the overbuilding north of Banbury into the countryside and ever closer, swallowing up valuable Grade II agricultural land in the process.

“As described to me by one resident: ‘The urban creep keeps getting closer and now it’s no longer a creep but an urban land grab.

“‘Banbury can back off – hands off historic Hanwell’”.

The first action group meeting took place last week, when committee members began a plan of action to halt any more housing developments – or commercial properties – on the two fields that separate Hanwell from Banbury. 

The group also plans to hold a coffee morning at Hanwell Village Hall on November 5 between 10am and 12pm, with the aim of raising campaigning funds to protect the area.

-

Read more from this author

This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.