Cherwell DC has overseen the purchase of Ministry of Defence (MoD) land that could pave the way for the completion of 1,900 new homes – making it the country’s first large-scale self-build community.

Following yesterday’s exchange of contracts between Cherwell and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, the MoD agency responsible for property, plans are now afoot to develop not just new homes at the 187 hectare site at Graven Hill in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

In addition to the 1,900 new homes, the development will also include scope for one million square feet of commercial space and the creation of up to 2,000 new jobs and apprenticeships.

The self-build concept has been designed to flexibly meet the needs and budgets of future residents, with 30% of the new homes to be classed as affordable. Provision has been made for kit-homes ready bought from catalogues through to custom build projects - where the owner designs the property and employs contractors to build it.

Not only would properties vary in size, from detached, semi-detached to terraced homes, apartments and bungalows, but different ownership tenures would be available – including outright ownership, shared ownership and renting.

Cllr Barry Wood, leader of Cherwell DC said: ‘The sale of this site is representative of several years' work behind the scenes to secure this purchase and completes the first stage of our vision to deliver the UK's largest self build community.

‘The next phase of this innovative project is to start undertaking the practical steps to prepare the site for the delivery of these new homes and jobs,’ Cllr Wood said.