A MASSIVE party is to be held in Rose Hill so new residents at a £20m housing project can meet their neighbours.

Friday’s event will celebrate the completion of 254 new flats and houses and will feature music, food and children’s activities.

The Oxford Citizen’s Housing Association (OCHA) will present a new bench to go in The Oval to mark the completion of the scheme.

The Lottery-funded event is to celebrate the regeneration of Rose Hill’s dilapidated wartime housing of Orlit, Minnox and Howard homes.

The factory-built homes were not built to last and by 2007 their state of disrepair had reached crisis point, prompting a huge rebuild.

This has brought hundreds of new residents to the estate.

A climbing wall, face painting and glitter tattooing will entertain youngsters in The Oval and food and live music will be in Rose Hill Community Centre.

Fran Gardner, a community worker for OCHA, said the event will kickstart the social regeneration of the estate now building has finished.

She said: “We are hoping a large proportion of the community will come to celebrate with us.

“Rose Hill has had to put up with the noise and disruption of major housing regeneration, which is not easy, and we wanted to say thank you for their patience.”

She added: “It’s also an opportunity to officially mark the start of the regeneration project.

“It’s the ideal opportunity for people who have lived on the estate for decades to meet their new neighbours.”

Hafsa Akkas, chairwoman of the Heera Asian women’s group, which will provide food at the event, urged residents to attend.

The Rose Hill Children’s Centre worker said: “What I love about Rose Hill is getting everyone together.

“Every time we hold an event like this it is always fantastic.

“It’s so nice to see new faces and food works really well as a way of bringing people together – and people really appreciate it.”

The free party starts at 5pm and runs until 6.30pm.