WORK has started on a controversial housing site in West Oxford which initially saw a disagreement between council leaders and a developer over affordable homes.

CALA Homes has got planning permission from Oxford City Council for its riverside development of new homes off Abbey Road and work is now starting at Beaumont Gate.

There will be 12 homes on the former Avis car hire site, including six three and four bedroom townhouses, and six one and two-bedroom affordable apartments, with one allocated for shared ownership.

Alongside the affordable homes the townhouses are expected to sell for about £1m.

Jericho and Osney city councillor Colin Cook said a previous application for nine homes by Banner Homes, acquired by CALA Homes in 2014, was refused by the council as it would have 'limboed under' the council's10-home ruling, which says developments of 10 homes or more must be at least 50 per cent affordable.

Mr Cook said: "The developers appealed and the matter went before a planning inspector who found in our favour.

"At 10 homes the affordable housing ruling kicks in, which means 50 per cent of the homes must be affordable, or slightly less, providing the developer comes up with the requisite financial argument.

"I think the developers originally suggested they had a better idea than us of what the housing need in the area was - they said it should all be large houses but we insisted there should be a split of housing types."

Mr Cook said the CALA Homes development was a 'good outcome' for the site, with some affordable housing.

He added: "The design of the homes will blend in extremely well."

A spokesman for CALA Homes said homes have been designed to complement their surroundings, using a 'high-quality palette of traditional materials, including stock brick and slate roof tiles'.

About £13,000 has also been allocated towards community improvements, through a Community Infrastructure Levy payment.

Duncan Klitgaard, land and planning director at CALA Homes Chiltern, said: "We’re delighted to receive planning approval for our development off Abbey Road.

"There is high demand for new housing in the area, and we have designed an attractive development that I’m sure will be popular.

"Work has already started on site, and we’re expecting the first completions in November 2017, so it is full steam ahead."

A spokesman for the company said the three and four-bedroom homes would 'be priced around the £1.15m mark' while the apartments would be run by Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association.

In August last year Frank Webster, director of leading estate agent Finders Keepers said a lack of housing was driving prices up but the council's rule that 50 per cent of homes in any plot should be affordable was 'turning developers away'.