Councillors are continuing their fight to stop an eco town being built at Weston Otmoor by commissioning a report from planning experts.

The report will look at alternatives in more detail, ahead of the Government deadline for the next round of consultation in February.

"What we want to show is how development that is in line with a framework agreed by local councillors can be far more eco-friendly than a green field location proposed by a housing developer - such as that at Weston Otmoor," said Cherwell Council Leader Cllr Barry Wood.

"There is nothing more environmentally unfriendly than creating a belt of urbanisation between Oxford and Bicester. That is what the eco town proposal will do and I am determined we must stop it," he said.

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The Weston Otmoor plan being promoted by a private developer is to build 15 thousand new homes on green land between the A34 and M40. It came bottom of the 12 short-listed eco town proposals from around the country, with a 'C' rating to indicate that it would 'only be suitable with substantial and exceptional innovation.'

But councillors insist such a low score in the Government's first round assessment has not yet killed off the scheme.

At a meeting of Cherwell Council's Executive, Cllr Wood moved to reassure local residents of the strength of opposition to extra housing growth being forced on the district by an eco town proposal.

Ward councillors and the Chairman of Bucknell Parish Council also addressed the meeting to express their concerns.

"The way in which we can protect Bicester is to ensure that any future extension, whenever and wherever, is done in an eco way," said Cllr Wood, adding that the Minister's response had already started to open doors for future investment in the town itself.

Explaining Cherwell's approach to the meeting, planning portfolio holder Cllr Michael Gibbard said the idea of an eco-suburb north west of Bicester had been put to Government as a theoretical alternative to measure Weston Otmoor against. He believed the council's approach so far had been instrumental in the process that had given the Oxfordshire eco town the lowest rating possible.

(CD/JM)