NEW plans to allow 350 new homes in Wallingford by 2016 are being prepared by the district council, a councillor has revealed.

The stopgap measure is set to be unveiled by South Oxfordshire District Council in an attempt to head off developers preparing to submit planning applications for hundreds of houses in the coming weeks.

But it will leave open the question of how many houses will be built in the town after 2016.

District councillor Imran Lokhon said the proposal had received “a lot of warmth” from councillors when it was outlined by planners last week, because it would let developers and residents know how many houses could be built in the town in the coming years.

He said a new draft core strategy, outlining where homes could be built, could be voted on by the council’s cabinet in October or November.

That would mean a new framework would be in place before decisions were made on the Winterbrook planning applications to be submitted by Wates (109 homes) and Berkeley Homes (380 homes).

Mr Lokhon said: “We need to have something in place. In an ideal world, we would build 350 homes until 2026 . . . It is still not clear enough beyond 2016.

“But at least with figures for 2016, we know we are moving forwards and it stops us being led by developers.”

He added: “We may still end up with 750 by 2026, which I do not agree with, but I do not think the figures will go up unless the Government brings in new options.”

But the mayor of Wallingford, Bernard Stone, said the proposal was “totally unacceptable”.

Mr Stone said the town council had yet to be notified of the plans. A meeting with officials was scheduled for last night.

He said: “Personally, I think that if there should be a phased approach to 2016, with it open beyond that, it would be a totally unacceptable approach.

“It would still put us in the situation after 2016 that developers would be fighting over how much development there would be — with conflict between the different parts of town.”

He added: “Other than stopping too much development too quickly, it does not achieve anything in terms of the planning of the town.”

Earlier this year, 1,000 people signed a petition calling for town development to be limited to 350 houses.

The district council’s strategic director, Anna Robinson, said: “As yet, nothing has been decided on the number of houses for Wallingford.”