ECO-FRIENDLY homes in an Oxfordshire village have been given a prestigious accolade for sustainable building.

The 15 houses at Longcot, near Faringdon, which are under construction, have been praised for following the One Planet Living framework, created by charity Bioregional as a system for planning sustainable developments and keeping them on track to achieve their goals.

They will have near zero carbon footprints thanks to the use of timber, wood fibre and hemp-lime in the construction process.

Emissions of climate-changing carbon dioxide gas caused by building the Kings Farm Close development will be around 90 per cent lower than for a conventional brick-built new home. In addition, future emissions of carbon dioxide will also be much lower than normal houses as heating requirements will be very low.

Martin Pike, director of developer Oxford Advanced Living, said: "This was our first project where we also put a real focus on how we could support the creation of a sustainable community."

At Kings Farm Close six of the 15 homes - 40 per cent - are designated as affordable. Four of the homes will be let to tenants at below market rents by Sovereign Housing Association, and two are for shared home ownership.

The other nine homes are for sale on the open market.