The length of time someone has waited for a council house in Oxford is to be used for the first time as a factor in allocating properties.

In what has been described as a "radical overhaul" of the current points-based system, Oxford City Council will next month start work on a banding scheme.

Those wanting social housing will be graded A-F, with A meaning "exceptional priority" and F meaning "no priority".

For the first time, the amount of time someone has been waiting for a home will count in their favour.

And if someone refuses an offer of accommodation, they would not move down, or be suspended from, the register - the property would be subject to a bid from others who were interested.

Once work to band people on the housing waiting list is complete, the new system - "choice-based lettings" - will come into force from December.

Last night, mother-of-four Amanda West, who has been waiting to move to a bigger council house for eight years, welcomed the scheme.

Ms West, who lives with her children and partner in a three-bedroom housing association property in Acacia Avenue, Blackbird Leys, said the stress had made her and her family ill.

She added: "I'm on sleeping tablets, my partner has been signed off work with stress and anxiety and my youngest son is being affected too. We need to move to a bigger house.

"Choice-based lettings is good news, but one minute the council says they have hope (of moving the family) - and the next they say they haven't."

Earlier this month, the Oxford Mail revealed the extent of the city's housing crisis, after some vulnerable tenants were told they faced a five-year wait for a home.

Until now, allocations have been made on a points system, with those with young families, deemed vulnerable or with severe disabilities, placed top of the list.

Last week, mother-of-four Rosemary Rush, 32, was told her family had reached the top of the list.

She lives with her children - aged 13, 12, 10 and two - and partner in a three-bed maisonette in St Ebbe's and has been waiting nine-and-a-half years to move.

She said: "Ideally we would like a house, anywhere - this (new register) gives us some hope."

There are 8,000 council and 4,000 housing association properties in Oxford, but the city council has a waiting list of more than 5,000, with just 450 properties becoming available each year.

Patrick Murray, the council's executive member for housing, said: "It has always been that people were told they either took it (an offer of a house) or they would be off the list for a year. Now people have some degree of choice - and that's far more effective."