Developers will join council officers in round-the-table talks on plans to demolish an Oxford bus depot and replace it with 220 houses.

The city council planning committee yesterday gave full backing to Oxford Bus Company's plans to move from its Cowley Road depot to Watlington Road.

But councillors want the depot development looked at again to try to preserve the playing fields there as a conservation area.

Concerns were also raised about the strain bus traffic would place on the already congested Garsington Road roundabout.

Berkeley Homes wants to build 220 houses and flats along with starter offices and workshops on the Cowley Road site.

But it was suggested that a denser development, in keeping with the rest of the area, could allow the bus depot playing fields, where a number of rare plants grow, to be preserved as a conservation area.

Committee vice-chairman Cllr Mike Woodin said: "It is vitally important that this area reflects neighbouring areas and that we do not create a semi-suburban development in the middle of east Oxford."

The committee agreed officers should sit down with the bus company and Berkeley Homes to draw up a design brief which would be acceptable to all parties.