Anxious villagers fear the promised construction of a crucial bridge may no longer go ahead.

Developers David Wilson Homes Southern agreed to build Letcombe Brook Bridge in Grove when its plans for a major housing development called Monks Farm were approved by Vale of White Horse District Council.

At the time, the council set a limit on the number of homes that could be occupied before the bridge was opened.

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But the company now want to remove this condition and continue developing without starting work on the bridge.

A joint community objection has been submitted by The Maples, a collection of 16 houses near the site, which casts doubt on whether the bridge would ever be built if the condition was removed.

The statement said: “There is a realistic prospect that the Letcombe Bridge access will either be substantially delayed or never built.”

If constructed, the bridge would allow residents of the Monks Farm site, which will contain 483 homes when completed, to access the A338 without having to drive through the centre of Grove.

It would form part of the proposed Grove Northern Link Road, a major relief road that has been on the cards since the 1970s but has yet to be approved.

David Wilson Homes Southern submitted plans for the bridge in 2022 but received strong objections from the Environment Agency and withdrew them before determination on April 19 this year.

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Just a month after the withdrawal, it launched its plans to remove the planning condition for the bridge.

The Maples’ statement said: “The developer has shown it has little appetite to ensure the bridge is built having neither fully followed official advice and guidance, nor answered the objection queries, nor provided the further information required by other bodies it therefore remains possible that the Letcombe Brook bridge may never be built.”

Grove Parish Council added: “(The council) strongly believe that if condition four is removed, the new Letcombe Brook Bridge will never be built and would therefore jeopardise the completion of the Northern Link Road from the A338 through to the Wellington Gate development.”

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A spokesperson for Barratt and David Wilson Homes Southern said: “The new bridge is an important element of this development and we fully intend to deliver it.

“The Section 106 of the outline planning permission allows for 150 homes to be occupied before the bridge is open. Plans for the bridge have taken longer than expected to design so we have submitted highways modelling that shows that the Denchworth Road access to the site alone is able to support traffic with this number of homes.

“We will continue to work closely with the local authority and Environment Agency to ensure the bridge proposals are delivered as soon as possible.”