Plans to build more than 500 homes and develop land for business have been unveiled in Abingdon.

But two of the three schemes must overcome major obstacles -- one falls within protected Green Belt land and the other is a greenfield site earmarked as a nature reserve.

All three proposals, which follow warnings from the Campaign for Rural England that the Green Belt around Oxford is among Green Belt land most under pressure from development, have been been branded 'pie in the sky.'

Farmers John Binning, from Besselsleigh, and Jack Benson, from Wootton, own land on either side of the roundabout at the end of Wootton Road, Abingdon.

They are seeking boundary changes to allow 504 homes, of which 200 would be affordable.

Although the land is Green Belt it is hemmed in by the A34 to the north and Copenhagen Drive and Dunmore Road to the south.

The landowners say the development would be contained inside the town boundary and would not impinge on the open country on the other side of the A34.

Mr Benson: "This is ideal land for building houses on and as everyone knows there is a desperate need for new homes, particularly affordable ones."

The Binning-Benson plan has been sent to the Vale of White Horse District Council and submitted to the public inquiry examining the Local Plan drawn up by the council for development in the Vale over the next six years.

Also submitted to the inquiry are plans for business developments east of Tilsley Park sports centre and south of the Tesco site.

The first plan is proposed by the owners of the land, the Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust. This area is also Green Belt land, between the A34 and Dunmore Road.

Tesco's plans come less than a year after the company paid the district council nearly £12m for the site.

The supermarket chain has already submitted plans to expand the size of the store and these will be considered by the council next month.

Also before the inquiry are plans for a minimum of 2,000 new homes in the Green Belt between Abingdon and Oxford near Sunningwell.

The Tesco plan to develop land for business use has alarmed campaigners wanting to establish a nature reserve in the nearby Ock Valley floodplain.

They are keen to protect the area following a failed bid two years ago to build a hotel and business units.

SAFAG -- South Abingdon Floodplain Action Group -- was formed after the hotel plan folded and is backed by residents living nearby worried about flooding if the floodplain is built upon.

Plans for a nature reserve have won favour with the district council and Tesco's plan for business development is certain to be opposed.

Vale councillor and leading supporter of the nature reserve plan, Peter Green said: "The Tesco plan has come as a big surprise.

"There is already concern about plans for an even bigger store and now Tesco wants land for business development on the floodplain. This would be totally unacceptable."

Sylvia Patterson, who chairs the council's development control committee, said: "The three development proposals in Abingdon are very interesting and the council will look at them, but they are all within the Green Belt that must be protected. I think the land owners are fighting a losing battle. Their plans are pie in the sky."