A CONTROVERSIAL blueprint for 20,560 new homes across Vale of White Horse has been approved by a planning inspector.

The announcement yesterday means the document could be adopted within weeks, closing a loophole that councillors say has allowed developers to propose housing on sites not earmarked for it.

Planning Inspector Malcolm Rivett also ordered Vale of White Horse District Council to present plans to help Oxford with its housing shortage within two years.

The district council said it expected to hold a vote on the new Local Plan at a meeting on December 14.

Council leader Matthew Barber said: “I am delighted that we’ve been given the go-ahead.

“After a process that has taken several years and has seen communities contributing to the Local Plan, we are now in a position to have much greater control over all development in the Vale.”

The inspector’s decision followed a public examination of the plan earlier this year.

In his findings, Mr Rivett welcomed the district council’s agreement to provide 2,200 homes to help with Oxford’s housing crisis but said it had come “very late”.

He wrote: “The two year deadline is appropriate having regard to both the time it is likely to take to identify and fully assess the allocations necessary to meet Oxford’s housing needs.”

He said housing sites approved at Abingdon-on-Thames, Kennington and Radley would be available in the meantime.