The proposals in the South East Plan for between 3,000 and 4,500 new houses at Didcot are causing the most concern in West Hagbourne is as it looks as though most of these are likely to be built to the west and south of the town, i.e. close to the village. In fact if they are built there a large proportion of these homes would actually be within West Hagbourne parish.

The South East Plan is a new type of planning document as it sets out a vision for the future of the South East region as seen by the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA). After various consultation exercises at which the county council, district council and West Hagbourne Parish Council gave their views SEERA submitted the Plan to the Government for approval in March 2006 . After a further consultation there was an Examination in Public at which West Hagbourne Parish Council was represented by the Western Villages Alliance which was set up to oppose the threat to the villages by the new housing.

The Government Office for the South East published the report containing the conclusions drawn at the Examination in Public in late August 2007, and the proposals for Didcot were largely unchanged. The Secretary of State has now published proposed changes to the South East Plan (or the draft Regional Spatial Strategy, as it is now called) and there is currently another consultation period which ends on October 2008.

A Hagbourne/Harwell bypass and a southern ring road have also been proposed to serve the major new developments. West Hagbourne Parish Council supports a Hagbourne/Harwell bypass and has been campaigning for this for some time. In the Council's opinion the bypass is already needed as traffic through the village has been increasing annually and the increase would be greater when Great Western Park is built, even without the threat of more houses between the village and Didcot. Although a southern ring road would relieve the village of most of the traffic, the effect of such a road would be a mixed blessing. It is likely to mean some homes in East Hagbourne would be demolished, would bring increased traffic noise north of the village and would inevitably become the southern boundary of Didcot. For an indicative map showing the route of the West Hagbourne and Harwell bypass and the southern ring road click here.

For more information about the background to local opposition to the South East Plan click here.