Banbury cannot expand any further without major investment in roads and other vital services and Cherwell District Council will oppose significant long-term growth.

Members of the council's executive committee have considered a report by the environment select committee about improving transport links in north Oxfordshire.

The report was drawn up to help develop long-term strategies for transport that would support sustainable growth in the Banbury area.

Plans for an east to west link road, between the M40 junction and the area south of Banbury, were favoured by the environment select committee. But the council's executive member for development, Fred Blackwell, said district council documents did not contain proposals for such a link road.

He said the link road idea implied there would be a large development south of Banbury in addition to the proposed Bankside/Bodicote development. He said it was the council's policy that Banbury would not succumb to significant levels of growth in the longer term.

He said: "We must try to resist future large growth. Banbury has reached a crossroads where we should sit back and consolidate."

He said Cherwell District Council welcomed the fact that in the county structure plan from 2011 to 2016, Banbury had not been earmarked for large-scale building.

"By 2011 Banbury will have a population of more than 50,000 -- saturation point on the existing infrastructure", he said.

"The town is fast reaching the point where it cannot grow further without major spending on roads and other investments."

The committee's report said Cherwell faced a balancing act over transport and population growth.