Plans have been submitted to the Government to create an eco-town in a disused quarry near Kidlington.

The company behind an ambitious scheme to create at least 5,000 homes in a self-sustained community at Shipton-on-Cherwell has bid to become one of the 10 eco-towns that Gordon Brown says he wants to see built.

The Shipton Quarry eco-town proposal is one of only about 30 schemes to have been submitted to the Government.

Kilbride Properties, the company behind the plan, say it aims to meet conditions requiring new settlements "to achieve zero carbon development and more sustainable living."

The Shipton Quarry scheme shows schools, shops, sports facilities, businesses, a new railway station, a park-and-ride site, marina on the Oxford Canal and nature reserve.

Kilbride believes the scheme to transform the former cement works between Woodstock and Bicester into a thriving community is in tune with Government calls for sites with "separate and distinct identity but good links to surrounding towns and cities in terms of jobs, transport and services."

A Government spokesman said submitted schemes would be examined by the transport and environment departments, and a shortlist would be drawn up after consultation with local councils. Ten eco-towns are planned to be built in two phases, the first five by 2016 and the second by 2020.