A HEARING is to be held into the proposed demolition of 29 Old High Street, Oxford.

Headington resident Martin Young has appealed against Oxford City Council’s decision not to allow him to bulldoze the house and replace it with five homes.

His plans have angered residents since the house is in the Old Headington Conservation Area. They had until May 7 to comment on the plans. Mr Young and the city council now have until May 29 to submit their final comments to the planning inspectorate and a date for a hearing will then be set.

Then the proposals will be considered by a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The house fell into a state of disrepair after Mr Young moved into his elderly mother’s house to take care of her.

When she died he remained in her house in Headington Hill, but the city council issued an improvement order giving him until March 12 to tidy the Old High Street home up.

In the meantime Mr Young, a property developer, submitted the plans for five three-storey houses, which was refused, and no work has been carried out.