A CONTROVERSIAL plan for 30 homes in an Oxfordshire village should be approved, a council planning officer has said.

Vale of White Horse District Council’s Stuart Walker said the plan for Bessels Way, Blewbury was not in its plan for future housing sites.

But it should be approved as it would be developed within a year to help Vale deal with a district-wide housing shortage.

It was also next to “an existing larger village with close availability of services and facilities”.

Mr Walker said the plan would not be “harmful to the landscape, character of the area, the residential amenity of nearby properties, any local heritage assets” or roads and would not pose a flood risk.

The council’s planning committee will be asked to make a decision next Wednesday at 6.30pm.

Applicant Albright Dene Ltd has proposed one, two, three and four-bedroom houses, 40 per cent of which will be “affordable”.

Some 43 residents objected, as did Blewbury Parish Council.

It told the district council would cause “harm to the public views from the footpaths which border the site”.

It also said “access to the site is over a bridleway, which is barely adequate for the existing houses at White Orchard and Cossicle Mead and unsuitable for another 30 houses”.

The 1.46-hectare site at Chailey House, Bessels Way is on the northern edge of the village, behind houses on Whites Orchard, Brides Mead and Ladycroft Caravan Park.