THE controversy surrounding a proposed eco-town at the Weston Otmoor site prompted a visit from the Government's Housing Minister.
Caroline Flint spoke with council leaders, local councillors, residents and developers on Thursday last week as part of her fact-finding mission to discover more about the suggested site near Weston-on-the-Green.
After asking developers about thei
r plans and assessing the feedback from local people, she stressed no decision had yet been made on the proposals. She said: "There is clearly a need for more housing in the region, but there will be a further consultation before a final shortlist is decided. If Weston Otmoor makes that final shortlist it will still need to go through the planning process."
Alan Cotton, spokesman for the Weston Front campaign, said he was still optimistic the proposals would fail. He said: "We didn't make a huge amount of progress but Caroline Flint did listen to our views."
He said the group was hopeful that the proposals would be thrown out for ecological reasons when they are reviewed.
Weston Otmoor is on a shortlist of 15 potential sites as part of Government plans to create eco-towns across the country to meet expected housing demands.
The shortlist is to be reduced to 10 later in the year.
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