NEIGHBOURS in a “David and Goliath” battle against a string of planning developments say the latest bid will tip the balance in their street.

Residents in Mill Street, West Oxford, have recently fought plans for a probation centre and student flats with placards, demonstrations, petitions, and public meetings.

And homeowners say the latest bid – a scheme for 101 rooms in the Innovation House Business Centre – will lead to the population of the road doubling.

The bid comes as Oxford City Council last month approved a plan to build a two-storey block of 55 student rooms behind numbers 17 to 41 Mill Street.

Resident Brendan Carter, 64, said the street felt under siege from developments.

He said: “The street will just be overloaded by students. It has been culturally cleansed from a working class area to a student area.”

Residents say the population will double with the new developments if each of the 74 homes in the road is assumed to house an average of two people.

Bellerbys International College opened a £10m campus at the former Trajan House site in 2010 after campaigners fought off a bid to house a probation hostel there.

Residents claim the college brings about 350 students up and down the street every day.

Developer WE Black is appealing to the planning inspectorate after its alternative plan to build 77 rooms in a three-storey scheme behind numbers 17 to 41 was rejected in July.

Rosemary Preston, of Mill Street, said: “We are fed up with spending our time having to find out about planning issues. It is really tedious.”

Barrett Street resident Anne James, who lives just off Mill Street, added: “The new developments would double the size of Mill Street’s population and I think that is disproportionate. Even if the students are well behaved it is the sheer volume of them that worries me.”

She said local communities should be given more of a say in planning decisions, adding: “It does feel like David v Goliath.”

Susanna Pressel, county councillor for West Central Oxford, said the new plan for the business centre might cause less disruption than the current use, as the car park would be taken away.

But she said it was a burden on the street to house so many students.

She added: “Almost very second house is now a student house and that is disruptive to people as it destroys the sense of community because they are not there for very long.”

She also said the scheme might not get planning permission as the city council could be reluctant to lose the building which currently houses 15 small businesses.

No one from Innovation House Business Centre was available for comment.

A decision on the latest application is due to be made by the city council on a date yet to be set.