Oxfordshire County Council has refused to do further work on "fairytale" proposals for the proposed Weston Otmoor eco-town unless the developer settles a £115,000 bill.

Council leader Keith Mitchell has criticised developer Parkridge for not paying for four detailed transport modelling assessments undertaken by the local authority to calculate the impact of building 15,000 homes near Weston- on-the-Green.

The council claims the money has been owed by Parkridge for more than five months.

It claims that if the bill is not paid, then road and public transport improvement projects in the county could have to be postponed.

Mr Mitchell, said: "These developers have been shifting the goalposts on an almost weekly basis. As one set of pie-in-the-sky fairytale plans is shown to be a superficial sham, another appears — and proves to be equally appalling.

"Whenever large or small housing schemes are proposed, it is our job to manage impacts so that the best interests of the county are protected. That includes things such as public transport needs, and the effect on the current road network.

"The developers said at the outset that they would pay for the huge amount of work undertaken on their behalf to analyse the details of this proposal to build a brand new town. Having made that promise, we were stunned to hear that they have gone back on it.

"Parkridge seems to have more newly-updated sets of plans to throw around than most people have hot dinners. Their chaotic approach creates spiralling work and costs in terms of time as well as money for ourselves and Cherwell District Council.

"Nobody in Oxfordshire asked for this proposal. It has been imposed and is now threatening to take huge chunks out of the local public purse. It is perverse and wrong."

Cabinet member for transport, Ian Hudspeth, said: "We got on with the work as best we could, despite the befuddled, nonsensical manner in which Parkridge seems to go about its work and the great drain on our own resources.

"We did that in the belief that we would at least not have to pay for Parkridge’s share of the bill and that we might be able to bring some sanity to the process.

"Now it appears that we will have to pay Parkridge’s bill as well. Our teams are frustrated and angry. Enough is enough. Until we see the colour of Parkridge's money, no more work will be done."

Parkridge director Roger Sporle said: "As is normal, the principle of Parkridge paying for the transport modelling work being undertaken by Oxfordshire County Council's consultants was agreed at the outset.

"We have only received one invoice for £7,860.06 plus VAT and it has not been passed for payment because the county have refused to provide information on how the sums have been calculated.

"This is sound corporate governance as no public or private organisation should pay bills when it does not know how it has been made up.

"It is disappointing that the county have chosen to raise this through the media rather than the proper channels of communication that have been established."

Parkridge has claimed that the eco-town will create 15,000 new jobs — one for every household.

A shortlist of 15 potential eco-town sites was released by the Government in April. It is thought that as many as ten will ultimately get the go-ahead.