Valley Park: Thousands of new homes in Didcot given outline approval

Vale of White Horse District Council's planning committee approved the Valley Park development (not pictured) on Wednesday

An outline plan for more than 4,200 new homes next to a major residential development has got the go-ahead.

The estate will be known as Valley Park and built next to Great Western Park, in Didcot, Oxfordshire, which will have an eventual 3,300 homes itself.

Vale of White Horse District Council's planning committee unanimously approved the Valley Park project on Wednesday.

Facilities to be built will include two primary schools, land for a special needs school and sports pitches.

Healthcare centre

It will form part of the Didcot Garden Town plan and 35% of the homes will be designated affordable.

Councillors ordered developers to pay a contribution towards the cost of new health facilities after Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) initially objected.

OCCG said the "significant" development would mean current practices would not have the "capacity to absorb this level of population increase".

It will receive £2.8m towards a new healthcare centre in Great Western Park or, should that not be built, £3.3m so it can buy land elsewhere and build another nearby to serve new residents.