A TOWN councillor said the revelation an additional 428 homes will be built in Wallingford was "extremely unhelpful".

It emerged last week that South Oxfordshire District Council is planning to allow developers to build the extra homes following the 2015 government-enforced Strategic Housing Market Assessment for Oxfordshire.

The 428 homes will be included in SODC's Preferred Options document for its Local Plan 2032, a document outlining future housing growth in the area being published on Monday for an eight-week consultation.

Town councillor Adrian Lloyd, who last year campaigned against 85 new homes being built at Winterbrook in Wallingford, said a Neighbourhood Plan for the town, allowing residents to help decide how Wallingford should develop, was already being put together.

He added: "The timing of this announcement is extremely unhelpful.

"We are in the process of drawing up the town's Neighbourhood Plan and hopefully that could be completed by this time next year.

"As the chairman of the plan's housing working group I will be seeking a meeting with staff from SODC next week.

"I hope we can work with SODC and take this process forward in such a way that it does not impose a particular site for new housing upon the town.

"If the Neighbourhood Plan is completed properly, and we are in accord with SODC, then the plan could afford us some protection."

Mr Lloyd said was keen to avoid the situation that arose with the Local Plan 2012 when people in the town were divided over where a new estate should be built.

Eventually it was decided 555 new homes would be constructed at Slade End Farm off Wantage Road, instead of at Winterbrook off Reading Road.

Mr Lloyd added: "We don't want to reopen those old wounds - we want to have a rational discussion about it."

John Gordon, a former diplomat who lives in Cholsey, urged the town council to take a stand against the additional housing.

A member of the Need Not Greed campaign, which campaigns to protect Oxfordshire's rural environment, Mr Gordon said: "We will be reaching a crisis point, unless people engage with the issue.

"Unless we find more sustainable ways of providing economic growth, and ways of making housing more affordable, we are going to be an increasingly urban part of Oxfordshire."

Independent county councillor for Wallingford Lynda Atkins, also a town councillor, said the town council would reveal its views as part of the consultation.

She added: "I am also keen to avoid people in the town being divided like last time but I fear its unavoidable because the new homes will either have to be built off the Wantage Road or the Reading Road - whatever happens is bound to upset some residents."

A suitable strategic site for 3,500 new homes is also being considered for another location in the district but SODC leader John Cotton said the precise location had not yet been decided.

Developer Wates was given permission in March to build the 85 homes at Winterbrook, on a 10-acres site north of Winterbrook Lane following a planning inquiry.