Planning permission for the Oxford Bus Company to move its depot from Cowley Road to Watlington Road looks set to be granted this week.

After months of wrangling over the future of the Cowley Road site, and concern over whether the roads around the Watlington Road site could cope with the extra volume of traffic, agreements have largely been agreed by Oxford City Council, the bus company and Berkeley Homes.

Members of the city council's planning committee are now being asked to agree the demolition of the Cowley Road depot, and its replacement with some business units and 227 houses and flats, which will expand on to the adjoining Cowley Marsh playing fields.

At Friday's meeting, they are also being asked to give the go-ahead of the demolition of existing buildings at the Dyers site in Watlington Road and for the construction of workshops and offices for use by the bus company.

Both applications are subject to a legal agreement being signed with Berkeley Homes regarding how much they will contribute to local amenities, including better recreational facilities. Developers have agreed to provide £15,000 towards improvements at the Watlington Road roundabout.

It had been feared that the new site would increase rush hour traffic in east Oxford, but a survey showed the impact would be an increase of one per cent or less.