Sir Richard Branson is facing a race against time to find a home in Oxfordshire for the People's Lottery.

The Kidlington billionaire came within a whisker of setting up his lottery headquarters at Milton Park, on the outskirts of Abingdon.

But the People's Lottery chief executive, Simon Burridge, said that the deal had fallen through.

Delays by the National Lottery Commission in deciding who should operate the National Lottery meant that Sir Richard had to pass on his first-choice location. Now the People's Lottery is faced with a new search for a suitable site, although Sir Richard is still determined to base his headquarters in Oxfordshire.

Mr Burridge, a former undergraduate at The Queen's College, Oxford, said: "We remain committed to the area now that we have been given an amber, if not green, light. Oxfordshire remains the area that we are concentrating on.

We identified the ideal property in Abingdon back in February and undertook to make a firm commitment in July. Because of the delayed decision by the Commission, we had to let it go.