Sir – I would like to reassure Andrew Garbutt (Gazette Letters, December 19), that many residents of Brize Norton, myself included, asked West Oxfordshire District Council why so many houses need to be built in Carterton, rather than spread out more evenly across the district.

We have also stressed that without significant improvements to the infrastructure, any major expansion in Carterton is simply not viable.

However, the reality is that the council is proposing to build 700 houses to the east of Carterton.

A petition was presented to the council last month signed by more than 300 people objecting to the proposal. Many residents also emailed or wrote during the consultation period expressing their views.

The Carterton East development not only infringes upon our boundaries but offers the inevitability of increased and severe flooding in the village. It is the latter that causes extreme concern.

The Save Brize Action Group will continue to do everything in its power to prevent the east option.

My previous letter, to which Mr Garbutt refers, was not designed to “push the allocation on to the west” but merely to highlight the fact that the east option would subject home-owners to a panoramic view of Britain’s largest military airbase, coupled with daily commuting hell. Surely this cannot be considered good planning.

I am sure many of us support Mr Garbutt in his well-researched efforts to persuade the district council that these houses are not needed. But in the meantime, we are fighting for our survival and simply say “don’t pillage Brize village”.

Keith Beckingham, Manor Road, Brize Norton