Concerns have been raised about the strain on local resources and increased traffic as developers finalise a planning application for hundreds of new homes.

The home construction company Bellway is seeking to build 800 new homes on the edge of Oxford.

And the firm expects to submit its outline planning application for the proposed development of its Water Eaton site, formerly known as PR6a, this spring after acquiring the land from Christ Church last September.

The site, which is south of Oxford Parkway station and Park and Ride, adjacent to the northern edge of Oxford at Cutteslowe and east of Oxford Road, is allocated for the development of new homes.

A primary school and a local centre are also included in the plans.

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Kidlington East councillor Ian Middleton believes the local reaction to the application will be "hostile" and raised the issues it could cause on resources in the area.

He said: “It is pretty obvious that the site is predicated on its proximity to parkway station so it is going to become a dormitory town for people community to Birmingham and London.

“I would imagine the local reaction to the plan is going to be pretty hostile. From what I have seen on social media it is already.

“Unfortunately there seems a lot of people that didn’t know it was going on.

“Obviously the larger number of residents in that area is going to massively increase the population of Kidlington.

“There is going to be additional traffic on Oxford Road and that’s going to have an impact on people as far up as Cutteslowe and the roundabout. There is going to be a knock-on effect from that.

“There is going to be systemic issues like the additional impact of local resources which we all know infrastructure that needs to be built for these developments, there tends to be quite a lag in these being built."

The new plans also include a centre with retail space, a café or restaurant, community building and facilities, an open space, play areas and allotments as well as travel infrastructure and green spaces for exercise and relaxation.

Once the planning application is submitted, Cherwell District Council will hold a stage of consultation on the application.

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A consultation was held by Bellway between December 7 and January 20 to get the public’s view on their plans.

A Bellway statement said: "We presented our updated proposals, influenced by the feedback we received during the initial consultation and the design development consultation.

"It was also a chance for the Bellway team to meet stakeholders and residents, after acquiring the Water Eaton site from Christ Church in September 2022.

"Thank you to everyone who provided feedback or attended one of our in-person or online events.

"Now the consultation has closed, we will undertake a full review of feedback received, which will be considered alongside feedback from previous consultations as we finalise our outline planning application to be submitted to Cherwell District Council."

The University of Oxford college, which owned the site, had previously consulted on proposals for the development, including a public consultation and an enquiry by design process last year, which enabled communities ‘to contribute to the development of the vision for Water Eaton.’