NEARLY 150 residents have opposed a plan to expand a city council depot onto parkland – nearly two years after the authority first withdrew it.

Oxford City Council wants to corner off a patch of the Cowley Marsh Recreational Ground to increase the size of its depot and car park, widen roads and build fencing.

The Cowley Marsh depot is the authority's hub for collected recycling and rubbish and for refuelling vehicles.

In 2015, it announced plans to create storage space for stacked wheelie bins.

The final decision on this year’s bid – which planning bosses have said should be approved as long as it remains for just five years – will be made this coming week.

It would see the depot expand onto a wildflower meadow and children’s play area.

Councillor Sajjad Malik, who represents Cowley Marsh, said he was in favour of the car park expansion to prevent workers parking in residential streets, but opposed expanding the depot.

The Labour councillor said: “I want people to enjoy the park and oppose the expansion. They should look elsewhere."

He added: “Last time I asked the officer to look and store somewhere else."

The Old Temple Cowley Residents' Association delivered hundreds of leaflets in the area calling on families to oppose the depot’s expansion.

Association member Judith Harley accused the council of cynical scheduling to force their application through after first ditching it in November 2015.

She said: "They would pick a holiday month. Most of the other meetings have been cancelled. The West Area committee has been cancelled and there are only two applications this month."

She added: “The car park at the moment is there for the depot staff. I have spoken at council meetings a number of times and said they should promote sustainable travel. I have asked them to apply them to their own staff and they simply say they start so early that they must use cars. This is simply not true.”

A total of 148 objectors complained about such issues as the loss of the wildflower meadow and public open space. One person wrote to the authority in support.

The council has previously said it must expand the depot to cope with increased demand.

Its executive director for a sustainable city, Tim Sadler, said in April: “We have looked at a number of potential sites but this is the most cost effective for our operations and takes up a small and underused portion of the park.

“The planning application goes further than previous applications as we propose some enhancements to the park including the car parking facilities to allow greater accessibility to residents at peak time.”

The East Area planning committee will be asked to give the plan the go-ahead in a meeting at Oxford Town Hall at 6pm on Wednesday.