RESIDENTS have secured victory against planners who wanted to knock down two semi-detached houses and build blocks of flats.

About 160 residents and neighbours signed a petition opposing plans by Taylor Bucknell Developments to build six three-bedroom houses and three flats in four separate blocks at Kelburne Road, Rose Hill, Oxford.

Oxford City Council's south east area committee rejected the bid at a meeting held at Rose Hill Community Centre.

Resident Hugh Mellor accused developers of 'shoe-horning' the homes and flats on to a residential street.

He said: "It is unneighbourly to surrounding properties. It really looks out of character and out of context in a road of semi-detached homes."

The plan also included 15 parking spaces and the committee expressed concern the entrance to the proposed development was sited on a corner and too close to neighbouring properties.

Developers had submitted a computer programme predicting the shadows which would be cast on neighbouring land as the sun passed over during three specific times of the day.

Committee chairman Gill Sanders said: "This proposal is just too much. It's unacceptable to have another window just a few feet away from yours."

The council rejected the plan deciding it was out of character in the neighbourhood and an unreasonable invasion of privacy.