Multi-million pound plans to move a hospital to Oxford United's Manor Ground have been kicked out, reports Mark Templeton.

Nuffield Hospitals wanted to relocate its Acland Hospital from Banbury Road to the Headington site in a 35m development.

The project would also have seen 90 residential flats built on the site as well as underground car parks for more than 150 cars.

Residents opposed the scheme, fearing huge traffic problems.

Oxford city councillors said yesterday that the scheme was too big and backed residents, saying the project would cause a traffic nightmare.

Planning committee chairman Cllr John Goddard said: "There are some very serious implications to this application and there is a strong case for us rejecting it.

"There are already major expansion plans for the John Radcliffe Hospital down the road and while the hospital tell us this is a relocation, it is in fact more than that - this is a much bigger development than the current Acland Hospital.

"This has not been thought out properly. There are serious implications on traffic and no thought has been given to social housing."

The new private hospital would have provided 70 beds, six operating theatres and 24 consulting rooms for the 4,500 patients the Acland sees each year.

About 116 full-time and 120 part-time staff would have worked at the new site, with a maximum of 180 workers on site at any one time.

Cllr Jock Coats asked if the refusal would have any implications on United's funding of its new Minchery Farm stadium.

But Cllr Goddard said: "We are not going to go down that road. That is a separate issue, we are only here to look at the hospital development."