A ROW has erupted between Didcot’s mayor and 11 villages opposing the planned expansion of the town – with accusations that nearby rural communities “hate” the town.

John Flood said he felt “besieged” by a campaign by the villages to limit the amount of new housing.

Didcot is a designated growth area and is set to get about 9,000 extra homes over the next 17 years.

But parish councils in Long Wittenham, Little Wittenham, Clifton Hampden, Dorchester, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, North Moreton, West Hagbourne, Harwell, Sutton Courtenay, Culham and Appleford, have united under the Didcot Ring of Parishes (Drop) campaign to reduce the number of new homes, saying Didcot does not have the infrastructure to support so many extra residents.

Addressing a South Oxfordshire District Council scrutiny committee meeting last week, Mr Flood said the surrounding villages did not like Didcot and had not for some time, even though the town provided them with a railway station, cinema, shops and banks.

He said: “This makes me feel besieged by the villages all round, waiting to leap in and bite us. If we weren’t there, the villages who hate us so much might find life a lot more difficult.”

Long Wittenham parish councillor and Drop member Anni Byard said the claim was ridiculous.

She said: “We were hoping to have some useful dialogue... but we were all very shocked for his complete disregard for the more than 10,000 people in these parishes.”

But Mr Flood said: “They see Didcot as a threat to their way of life, and are obsessed with the thought of more cars coming through their villages.

“This is understandable, but if there was not a Didcot, then how would they get money from the bank, and where would they shop?”

The cabinet discussed the council’s draft core strategy yesterday with the full council set to make a final decision tomorrow.

The plan involves building 3,300 homes on the Great Western Park development to the west of the town, 350 on the Ladygrove East site, 2,030 to the north of the town, 300 at Vauxhall Barracks, 300 at the Orchard Centre, and 2,150 on land in the Vale of White Horse District Council area, west of the Great Western Park development.

Householders in Wallingford have also spoken of their fears over a 400-home development recommended by planning chiefs. Wantage Road residents said the plan for Slade End Farm would spoil the countryside and flood roads with traffic.

The council said the move was essential to meet demand for homes.

Mother-of-four, Julie Bywater, 43, of Wantage Road, said: “It’s the wrong location, not because it’s my backyard but because it’s so far out of the town. Most people will drive into the town to do their shopping, and the site is too big for 400, so there will be pressure to fill it in.”