Sir – The east area committee laudably rejected a planning application in October to demolish virtually all but the facade of 190 Iffley Road. This Arts and Crafts building had been judged worthy of saving in last year’s planning inspector’s decision.

On November 25, I witnessed the strategic development control committee reverse the October decision.

The site of 190 is to consist of a huge glass block, behind and beside the facade. This ‘pile em high’ development is to house 27 students in cramped bedsits. The limited kitchens for cooking, eating, laundry and socialising were described by the architect as ‘common rooms’, evoking a very different image for his audience.

I never imagined I would hear a Labour councillor justifying such tiny spaces as follows: “The committee should not judge others’ needs like ‘ours’ when we are used to more space”. I last heard this on a trip to South Africa when someone commented on the shanty towns outside Cape Town.

A white woman justified these because ‘They’ were not like us. “They were used to smaller spaces and were happier there”. I wonder if students would agree.

Professor Judith Okely, Oxford