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.
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