IT IS most often associated with the protection of pretty old-fashioned villages, or towns steeped in rich historical buildings.

But this week councillors gave conservation area status to a military base, known more for its ugly concrete bunkers and imposing aircraft hangers than its picture-postcard views.

Cherwell District Council has now officially designated the former RAF Upper Heyford, near Banbury, as a conservation area despite opposition from the housing developers which own the site.

Conservation area status means there will now be strict controls on building and demolition work on the base.

The North Oxfordshire Consortium, which bought the base two weeks ago for £24.4m, had warned that making the base a conservation area could jeopardise its plans to build 1,000 houses there.

The consortium had previously said it had hoped to submit a planning application later this summer.

Consortium chairman Ivor Beamon said he was not happy with the decision.

He said: "We don't think it was really necessary at this stage to give it a conservation area status. Will it delay plans? It probably will have a knock on effect, yes.

"Every time we want to knock a building down we are going to have to analyse each building. It will inevitably lead to more delay. It just makes it a more complex process.

"We want to get on and redevelop the base, like the council wants us to. It's an unnecessary way of achieving what we both want."

Mr Beamon said he could not comment on whether the North Oxfordshire Consortium would consider appealing against the decision.

He added: "We haven't considered all the options open to us yet. We want to continue a close relationship with the council."

Upper Heyford district councillor James Macnamara said he was also unhappy about the situation, but believed the council had had no choice.

He said: "In a perfect world we would go back to the old comprehensive planning brief, which was to wipe the whole area clean and pay for it by building 1,000 houses.

"But we are stuck with what English Heritage are insisting on. If English Heritage is going to foist an airfield on us, we might as well have it as an airfield and not a mish-mash.

"Their advice is generally unquestioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, so effectively they have unlimited power. We have effectively no choice in this."

English Heritage has said the base is one of the best surviving examples of an American Cold War airbase, with buildings of national and international importance.