Plans for a £2.7m Centre of Excellence for Rugby and Cricket have been hit for six.

Last month, city council leaders approved a land deal to allow the project off Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, to go ahead.

But councillors at yesterday's (April 30) strategic development control committee rejected the plan to build 40 homes on a site in Barton Road, Headington, Oxford -- the sale of which would have helped fund the Horspath Road centre.

Oxford Harlequins Rugby Club was planning to run the new centre with Oxford and Horspath Cricket Club and Oxford Brookes University.

Councillors agreed with the planning officer's recommendation that it would go against council policy to allow a housing development on a greenfield site.

Residents' spokesman Andy Young said: "We are delighted that reason has prevailed.

"This is a valued open space that needs to be retained -- it doesn't need to be developed until at least 2016 and the argument by its backers that it would fund a sporting centre of excellence in Cowley simply didn't add up either logically or financially."

But he warned: "The applicants have placed a strategic objection to the designation of the cricket ground as an open-air sporting facility under Oxford's emerging Local Plan, which will only be finalised next year.

"This means we could still find this housing development is approved through the back door, even though the local community, the town planners and now the council are against it."

Simon Porter, chairman of Oxford and Horspath Cricket Club, said the decision was a missed opportunity for cricket and rugby in the city.

"We are turning a derelict site into a state-of-the-art sports centre for the people of Oxford," he said.

"Does the city council realise it has turned up a tremendous opportunity to provide sports facilities for Oxford which it cannot provide itself?

He added: "I still hold out hope for the Horspath Road venture and I expect the developers to investigate the planning appeal procedure."

John Waters, treasurer of Oxford Harlequins, added: "The guys are playing really well on the field and we need to show our support by developing playing and training facilities. This is a real blow."

Last month's decision by the council to lease former allotment and agricultural land off Horspath Road for the new centre was seen as a major step forward for the new venture, which stalled in 1999 when a bid for £2.1m lottery grant failed.

Planning officer Adrian Butler claimed yesterday that only £1.4m would be used from the sale of the Headington site to fund the new centre, leaving a £1.3m shortfall, and a lottery grant could not be guaranteed to make up the difference.

Peter Johnson, executive member for leisure, said: "We need to talk to representatives from all sides as soon as possible to see what we can do to keep plans for the Horspath Road site in place."

The decision to refuse permission for the new homes yesterday followed the same decision the night before by councillors at the north east area committee.