VILLAGES north of Didcot are raising a fighting fund and getting expert advice to block a proposed 1,800-home extension of Ladygrove.

Long Wittenham, Clifton Hampden, and Appleford parish councils say they will fight the town’s growth to the north “all the way”, warning it will cause nightmare conditions on country roads and pose a flood risk to riverside villages.

Large parts of the site are listed as being on the flood plain by the Environment Agency – although South Oxfordshire District Council insists nothing will be built on these areas.

The West Is Still Best lobby group has recruited transport and flooding experts to challenge the district council’s likely decision to allow building there, saying houses would be better close to Great Western Park and the Hagbournes.

The three parish councils have agreed to share the costs of the fight, and this week launched a website and Facebook campaign, as well as putting up signs and banners around the site.

Long Wittenham parish council chairman Paul Otter said: “We will take this as far as the process goes, if necessary all the way to judicial review.

“So far we have not spoken to anyone in the villages who agrees with the Ladygrove extension.

“We recognise the need for housing, but this is the wrong side of town.”

Clifton Hampden parish council chairman Chris Dupond said: “The district council does not seem to recognise that a huge amount of traffic heads from Didcot to Oxford on these back roads, rather than using the A34.

“If just 10 per cent of the new cars went through the village, it really would be diabolical.”

Audrey Sharp, of Appleford parish council, warned the development could create a “permanent traffic jam” through the village.

She said: “We know Didcot is a growth area and there needs to be houses, but we can’t understand why this totally unsuitable site has been chosen.

“It’s going to make living in Appleford a nightmare. The traffic would be devastating.”

Didcot is already set for huge expansion.

Work has started on the 3,300-home Great Western Park, 650 homes are due to be built at Ladygrove East, and 300 each as part of the Orchard Centre’s extension and at Vauxhall Barracks.

Another 2,150 homes will be built next to Great Western Park in Harwell parish, but both Didcot Town Council and senior district councillors have indicated their preference for 1,800 new homes to be built north of Ladygrove rather than more development to the west.

Town council leader Bill Service said he appreciated villagers’ worries, but the threat to the Hagbournes was even greater.

District council leader Ann Ducker said: “One wants to work with people rather than being in a head-on collision, and we want to mitigate their feelings and be sensible.

“At this stage, no decision has been made, but their arguments are the same arguments they had previously and, as far as I know, officers say they have been overcome.”

She said the council would work with Oxfordshire County Council to overcome traffic problems, and the flood plain would be left untouched.

She added: “The area in the flood plain would be left as open space.

“There would be no building on it. We are not that stupid.”