A HOUSING estate will be built on land north of Bicester's Gavray Drive after the Secretary of State overruled objections from Cherwell District Council.

A development of 500 homes will go up on the land, which had been allocated for business use by the district council in the Cherwell Local Plan.

After a planning inquiry held in March, the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State agreed Bicester already had enough employment land and said the Cherwell Local Plan was outdated.

The report said: "The Secretary of State agrees with the Inspector that the Cherwell Local Plan is essentially out of date.

"There is a more than adequate supply of employment land and premises.

"The delivery of housing units in Bicester and the district as a whole has been materially below strategic requirements and there is a pressing need for affordable housing."

District councillors, the Bicester Chamber of Commerce and environmentalists, who all objected to the plans, are angry to hear developer Gallagher Estates had been given the go-ahead.

Debbie Pickford, portfolio holder for housing, said: "The land had been allocated for business, we wanted to keep it for employment because the town is growing, the thousands more people living here will need workplaces and employment opportunities.

"I think it will throw the town's infrastructure out of balance. I just hope in 20 years' time, when we want business land and business opportunities in Bicester, there will be the land."

Dave Simpson, chairman of the chamber of commerce, said: "It's a sad day for the creation of future jobs in Bicester. That's one of the only areas of employment land.

"Where are the 16 to 20-year-olds coming out of school in the next three to four years going to work?

"I believe it's a wrong move by the planning inspector. The more houses we have, the more Bicester will become a commuter town. At the moment 75 per cent of the working population of the town work out of town.

"The creation of jobs for today's youth is obviously not a priority."

Independent environmental consultant Dominic Woodfield and the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) objected at the inquiry, saying the development would destroy part of a county wildlife site and a colony of endangered butterflies.

Mr Woodfield said: "There's a small colony of Marsh Fritillary butterflies which have been extinct elsewhere in Oxfordshire for more than ten years. They are threatened in the UK and Europe and are fully protected under the law.

"No allowance for their presence had been make by the developer, which shows an insufficient amount of groundwork had been done by their ecologists.

"I am very disappointed and smarting, really, that the inspector found in favour of the developer. I thought we made a very good case for the developer having to start again on a clean slate.

"It is the scale and configuration of the development that is inappropriate. If you had a smaller number of houses, you would not have to destroy a wildlife site and a colony of butterflies.

"This demonstrates how the planning guidance system is failing to protect biodiversity."

Gallagher Estates propose to employ a butterfly officer for five years to protect the butterfly colony, which they say can safely be moved.

But Mr Woodfield claimed this will not help. He said he was considering taking the case to the High Court himself.

People living near to the development had wanted it to be kept a wildlife area but were against it being used for industry.

John Broad, 61, of Mallards Way, said: "We always wanted it to be left as a wildlife site, but if something had to go up there, we would prefer it to be housing. It would be a total disaster to have industry there.

"I feel relieved at least that is not going to happen."

The development will incorporate a wildlife site, primary school, community facilities and open space.

David Keyse, of Gallagher Estates, said: "We are delighted to have been granted outline consent for 500 new homes at Gavray Drive, of which 30 per cent will be affordable.

"We set out our case to the inspector and are very pleased that, having heard all sides of the debate about employment land, nature conservation and the need for new houses in Bicester, he found in our favour. His recommendations have now been endorsed by the Secretary of State."

He said the master plan for Gavray Drive was led by the ecology, and included retention of the majority of the existing mature trees and hedgerows. Three of the existing ponds will also stay and six more will be created for great crested newts.

The company will create a fund of £500,000 for a Marsh Fritillary Butterfly Project in Oxfordshire.