THE Mayor of Wantage said he was surprised and pleased after a highways expert objected to plans for an 81-home estate on the popular green space known as Tom's Field.

Steve Trinder said it was the first time he could remember the roads team at Oxfordshire County Council objecting to any planning application.

The news will also be welcomed by more than 100 residents who have objected to the plans, many of them on transport grounds.

Residents who live next to the field in Charlton have fears about new neighbours using narrow Charlton Road to get to the estate and about construction traffic.

The county's transport consultant John Patey has now vindicated their concerns in an official objection to the planning authority Vale of White Horse District Council.

He said it had not been "adequately demonstrated" that the development site could be provided with "satisfactory means of access".

Mr Patey told the Vale that if the plan was approved the new access road should be built and finished, a construction traffic management plan should be approved by the highways team and a surface water drainage scheme should be approved before any houses were even begun.

He also said a full residential travel plan must be produced for the estate before the first home was occupied, then updated within six months.

Finally, Mr Patey said the developer should pay £69,000 towards improving bus services between Wantage and Didcot, £4,000 towards new bus stops at the Nelson pub, £16,000 towards new bus shelters in the area and £1,240 towards a new travel plan for the area.

Mr Trinder said: "This is the first time I have even seen highways object to a planning application.

"When the town council objects to something and someone else agrees, we are always pleased.

"I want to see Tom's Field stay because it is a local green space used by local people.

"I hope this plan will get rejected and we'll get a stay of execution for some years".

Wantage and Grove Campaign Group for sustainable development also thanked everyone who had objected.

Campaign manager Julie Mabberley added: "Highways, for once, has also objected on transport accessibility grounds.

"We hope that this – together with all the comments – should be enough to get the application rejected but have to wait until November for it to go to a planning committee."

The planning application by the executors of the Stanley Thomas Pinnel estate can be seen at whitehorsedc.gov.uk using reference number P16/V1983/O.

The Vale is aiming to make a final decision by November 10.