A CAMPAIGN group has been set up to preserve under- threat Green Belt land that would make Cumnor “utterly unrecognisable” if it was built on.

Villagers have launched the action group Keep Cumnor Green to co-ordinate efforts to preserve the area’s character.

Vale of White Horse District Council’s Local Plan – to decide where future housing estates could go – released five sites surrounding the village from protected Green Belt status.

The appearance of a new 1,250-space park and ride in Oxfordshire County Council’s transport strategy for the next 20 years has also caused concern.

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Group chairman Tim Pottle said: “Over the past decade the village has doubled its housing and now has more than 850 homes.

“If the five council-selected Green Belt plots become construction sites we will double the number again in a couple of years.

He added: “The village will be utterly unrecognisable.

“The roads around the school are already jammed in the morning – adding more homes and more cars in the village is madness.”

The Vale’s draft Local Plan included proposals to build 200 homes on two of the sites.

The homes were dropped in a revised version of the local plan but the land was still released from the Green Belt.

Oxfordshire County Council’s draft strategy plans for the next 20 years include a shift away from “city-edge” park-and-ride sites to an outer ring of sites slightly further from Oxford.

A new park-and-ride at Cumnor, to serve the A420 and A338 corridors, has been included as a possibility.

Cumnor resident Peter Vezey said: “I just feel that Cumnor is being invaded. It’s only three miles from the city and its being targeted for large-scale housing.

“The houses in Cumnor are being built for people who are going to be working in other towns.

“The village can’t cope with the amount of cars at the moment and with a park-and-ride planned as well as the homes it just seems badly thought out.”

Vale of White Horse District Council leader Matthew Barber said: “There are no plans for housing to be built in Cumnor but there is an understandable fear among residents. I don’t think there’s a huge difference in our opinions – we want to preserve Green Belt land too but we recognise there is a need for housing.

“There are calls for a countywide review of the Green Belt and I have no objections to that – we have done our bit.”

On the issue of the park-andride, county council spokesman Paul Smith said: “Specific sites have not been identified for the new park-and-rides.

“However, we have identified the transport corridors that would be served by the new sites, and indicated a possible very broad location for each site.”

He added: “If residents object to the idea of a park-and-ride in their area, we would wish to hear from them as part of the current consultation.”