PLANS to put student flats on car parking spaces near Magdalen Bridge would make St Clement’s a ghost town, traders in East Oxford claim.

Shop and restaurant owners said Oxford City Council was putting the money it would get for the site ahead of the impact on nearby businesses.

Developer Watkin Jones Group wants to build flats to house 141 students on part of the car park.

Although the buildings will be built on stilts, about 40 spaces of the 115 in the car park would be lost. The firm originally proposed removing 53.

The council had invited bids to redevelop the site.

Traders held a meeting about the issue on Tuesday night.

Restaurateur Clinton Pugh said: “I think the majority of businesses will close if this goes ahead.

“This is a real kick in the teeth for people here. If it isn’t stopped, it will mean the closure of St Clement’s.”

Mr Pugh, who owns Cafe Co-co and Cafe Tarifa and Kasbar, in Cowley Road, said: “What sort of message does this send out to business?

“The council will find that people aren’t going to lie down and take this.

“The council would never have contemplated something like this at the car park in Summertown.”

Alan Grosvenor, of Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, said: “This could turn St Clement’s into a ghost town.

“St Clement’s and the lower end of Cowley Road depend on the car park.

“There’s no other parking anywhere near here, with permit and residents’ parking everywhere.”

He said the council would “lose much more in the long run when shops are empty and boarded up”.

Watkin Jones submitted a planning application for the scheme this week.

Spokesman Paul Gillespie said the firm opted for a design with lower buildings, so as not to obscure views of the city.

A spokesman for Oxford City Council, said there had been consultation about the principle of development of the car park on a number of occasions before it was adopted as policy in 2005.

He added: “We have been working hard to find a solution for the provision of a temporary car park within the St Clement’s area. However, this is proving difficult.”