A community has urged councillors today to recommend plans to transform their run-down estate.

People in Rose Hill are fed up with the sight of derelict houses and boarded up windows, and want Oxford City Council's south east area committee to back a regeneration project for the area.

Residents, some of whom have already moved out for the work to begin, have called on the council to pull its finger out - claiming the area has been left to look like a "slum" in the meantime.

The committee has the power to recommend Oxford Citizens Housing Association's (OCHA) scheme which could be given planning permission at a meeting of a strategic development control committee on Wednesday, October 31.

If given the green light, more than 97 temporary Orlit homes will be demolished and 254 new homes built.

Affordable and shared properties will make up 141 of the homes, 26 will be one or two-bedroom sheltered accommodation for the elderly and the rest will be private housing sold by developers Taylor Wimpey.

The scheme will include land in Lenthall Road, Pattison Place, Nowell Road, Rivermead Road, Clinton Close, Thames View Road and Desborough Crescent.

Some homes have already been demolished ahead of the decision - leading to complaints that the estate now looks like a slum.

Others have hit out at delays that mean even if the project is approved it will not be started until January nor completed for another five years.

Liz Pladdys, who moved from Desborough Crescent to Nowell Road as part of the preparations, said: ""It has been dragging on that for long that I think it would be a very big shame if it didn't go ahead.

"I think it will do wonders for the area. At the moment Rose Hill looks derelict - it looks awful."

John Green, chairman of the Rose Hill Tennants and Residents' Association, said: "The view now is that this has gone on for so long, lets just get on with it.

"The estate looks desperate, which has contributed to antisocial behaviour. If you're living in a slum, you're going to treat it like one."

George Cooper, 86, from Wynbush Road, who will move to a new home in Stephenfield House in Thames View Road when the development gets under way, said: "Originally it was supposed to be finished by 2008 and now it's not going to start until then.

"We want it done. We need it to boost the estate up again. We have waited long enough."

An OCHA spokesman said the association had been working with the council to minimise the impact of preparing for the development.

It said some buildings had been demolished to prevent squatting.