New roads need to be built soon to ease the traffic generated by 2,500 new homes planned in Grove, councillors have warned.

Persimmon Homes last month submitted a planning application for the Grove Airfield scheme that will double the village population.

However, there are no plans to build a new major road for at least 10 years after 1,500 homes are expected to have been built.

Under Vale of White Horse District Council’s long-term local plan a road linking the north of the development and the A338 between Bellinger’s Garage and Oxford Lane has to be provided.

But Frank Parnell, chairman of Grove Parish Council, said if the road was not built soon the development would cause traffic misery through the village.

He also said construction traffic would clog up roads while the houses are built.

Mr Parnell said: “While the first few hundred homes are built it won’t make much of a difference, but after it will be horrendous through the rest of the village.”

The development is expected to take 16 years, with 500 homes being built in the first five years.

Mr Parnell also said: “This will be a challenging time for Grove – to get to grips with the whole application.

“It is something we need to look at carefully.

“Once it is approved it will be very challenging for Grove to integrate with the whole thing and live with a building site for the next 16 years.”

The developer has also proposed two access roads to the development from Newlands Drive.

Grove district councillor Sue Marchant said that was not enough, adding: “Unless we get these problems sorted out now there will be problems in the future.”

The development will include a supermarket and other shops, a library, community facilities, two primary schools, a secondary school, playing fields and large areas of open space.

Zoe Patrick, county councilor for Wantage and Grove, said: “The road infrastructure is crucial to the whole thing.

“It should be built in the first stage when they are starting to build, to accommodate all the new traffic.”

Richard Briggs, managing director for Persimmon special projects western, said the firm was planning to provide the northern link road once 1,500 homes had been built and this would mitigate traffic problems.

But an eastern link road, linking the A338 Station Road at the roundabout with Mably Way to the A417 Reading Road, is not a requirement in the council’s long-term plan.

There will be a public exhibition of the Grove Airfield plans at St John’s Church Hall in Main Street, Grove, on Friday, March 23, from 2pm to 4pm and on Saturday, March 24, from 10am to 4pm.

Representatives from Persimmon Homes and Vale of White Horse District Council will be on hand to talk through the plans on Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, at the same time and place.

To view the application, visit whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ groveairfield. The district council aims to make a decision on the plan by the end of May.