MORE objections have been raised against a plans to build a garage, car port and new driveway at a historic home in Iffley Village.

The owners of Grove House in Iffley Turn, which was once owned by the estranged wife of author Graham Greene, want to redevelop parts of the property.

Earlier this year they withdrew an application to demolish the Rotunda- a building alongside Grove House which once housed Vivien Greene's huge dolls' house collection.

Those plans were criticised by neighbours, as were the current plans for the 6.9m tall garage and other work when they were first put forward.

Now more people living nearby have voiced their opposition to the new plans, which would also see new gates installed, a wall in the garden rebuilt and changes to internal partition walls.

Rachel Atkins, who lives in nearby Church Way, wrote to planning officers at Oxford City Council to express her worries.

She said: "I feel that the construction of a two-storey garage which is 6.9m in height will significantly detract from this view and therefore detract from the character of the area.

"A garage building of a more sympathetic design would not be visible from the public thoroughfare or from neighbouring properties.

"I strongly believe that the height, depth and width of these proposals are excessive."

Miss Atkins added that she felt the plans lacked detail on whether or not trees would be retained to screen the new garage building.

The house was built between 1780 and 1823, with the Rotunda added in the 1960s.

Mrs Greene, whose husband wrote books including Brighton Rock and The Third Man, collected 41 dolls' houses which were kept in the Rotunda.

They were later sold at auction after she died at the age of 98 in 2003.

Another Church Way resident, Elizabeth Taylor, said: "I am concerned by the height and bulk of the proposed three-car garage and the additional trees that are proposed to be felled in order to give some space and access to it.

"The bulk and tree felling will clearly affect the character of this listed site which has been so carefully preserved and respected by the previous owner and which is an important addition to Iffley conservation area."

In the planning statement submitted by architects Bergman Guedes Stretton the company said the owners of the house wanted to make Grove House "a hospitable home" for children, adults and grandparents.

The firm added the garage would be built in a "discrete" location along the west boundary of the garden whilst the car port, to be used by the Rotunda, would be on the site of an old garage which has been demolished.