BOTLEY is bracing itself for change after plans for 130 new homes were submitted and a proposal for an iconic £3m ‘armadillo’ shaped church and student flats were approved.

Bovis Homes has lodged an outline planning application to build 78 private houses and 52 affordable homes on greenfield land off Lime Road, near Matthew Arnold School and the Yarnell’s Hill Estate.

The red-and-brown brick homes will include apartments, terraced houses and detached houses.

Vale of White Horse District Council had fought use of the land in recent years, saying the homes should have gone in Grove instead.

But the national Planning Inspectorate overuled its plans in 2006, saying the Botley site was a “highly sustainable location” to take extra homes in the district.

They said the Grove houses would not be built quick enough.

Bill Warburton, 67, who has lived in Yarnell’s Hill and Lime Road all his life, said: “The new homes are going to change the area clearly.

“It was a nice rural setting where all the wildlife managed to get away from the population.

“It’s inevitable that it’s going to happen because homes are needed and it’s a very useful piece of land.”

He added: “There’s clearly a need for social housing here as there hasn’t been any built since the 1950s.”

Philip Stevens, chairman of North Hinksey Parish Council’s planning committee, said: “I think local school and health services will be able to cope with the new homes.

“Things are changing in Botley and I’m sure the changes will be positive.”

A decision on the application is expected in February next year.

It is the developer’s second attempt to build on the land.

A plan in 2007 for 130 homes did not go ahead because of concerns about the sewerage system.

This will be resolved from December 2012 when Thames Water installs a new sewage pumping station. Meanwhile the 1960s-built Botley Baptist Church, known as the Botley warehouse, is set to be demolished and replaced with a modern shell-shaped church.

The complex will also house a café, three or four community meeting rooms and 16 student flats in the top two floors of the building.

The district council’s strategic control committee approved the plans last Thursday but it will also have to wait until the pumping station is installed in December 2012.

Church rebuilding committee member Graham Ansell said it would be a “landmark building”.

He said: “We’re very pleased with the design.

“It’s a totally different shape and hopefully it will bring people to Botley to have a look at the church and the area.”