A DEBATE over where 410 new homes should be built in north Oxfordshire led to accusations that a council is not listening to residents.

At its meeting on Monday night, Cherwell District Council discussed legal changes it needs to make to its Local Plan, a document which sets out where homes can be built across the area in between now and 2031.

A government inspector told the council they cannot build 410 homes on a site south of Woodstock which they had earmarked for housing.

Instead, the council will need to find other places they can build the homes, which are part of a scheme being planned across Oxfordshire’s different district councils to meet the demand for homes from Oxford's growing population.

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While 230 of these homes will be placed on other sites which the council has allocated for housing, a new area of green belt land will need to be found to building the remaining 180.

CDC is expected to build a total of 4,400 homes to meet the needs of Oxford, which would be in the south of the district near to Kidlington and Yarnton.

Margaret Eynon, a supporter of North Oxford Golf Club spoke at the meeting, asking the council to defer a decision on making changes to the local plan so it could reconsider proposals to build on golf club land, which is in the green belt.

Mrs Eynon said: “It is absurd that North Oxford Golf Couse is to be sacrificed on the altar of growth at any costs.”

She added: “You will have noticed the numerous representations about the potential loss of the course; more than any other single proposal - and with good reason. It is the very epitome of what we should be doing for health and climate change in the green belt.”

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Colin Clarke.

But Colin Clarke, CDC’s lead member for planning, reminded councillors they were there to discuss the recommendations of the inspector, not overhaul parts of the local plan they did not like.

Lib Dem councillor Conrad Copeland said the council was not listening to its residents on where they wanted homes to be built, and proposed a delay to the debate.

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He said: "They have said we are the residents, we are the voters, we don't want houses built on our green belt. We don't want the houses from Woodstock."

But his suggestion was voted down by majority and the council approved plans to move the homes to other sites.

The changes will now be considered again by the inspector.