The Acland Hospital has re-submitted its planning application to build a state-of-the-art private hospital on Oxford United's Manor ground.

It is hoping the modified scheme will overcome the concerns of residents who claim it would create a traffic nightmare in Headington. The hospital's plan to move from its site in Banbury Road, Oxford, to the Manor were rejected by city councillors in the summer.

The city's planning committee was unhappy about the levels of traffic that an independent hospital, 152-space underground car park and 90 flats would generate. But the Acland, part of the independent Nuffield Hospital group, has come back with a modified plan that splits the hospital from the proposed housing, which now includes affordable homes for nurses.

The revised plan moves the hospital to the centre of the site, allowing traffic to be divided between three roads.

Patients and visitors would access the three-storey hospital and underground car park via Beech Road and would leave via Osler Road. Commercial traffic would reach the hospital from London Road. Twenty-seven flats for health workers would be built on the south side of the site. There would also be 60 new flats on the Cuckoo Lane side.

The manager of the Acland, David Jowett, said: "The council's own local plan designated the site for mixed-use redevelopment of residential and employment purposes. The scheme would allow us to replace the ageing Acland Hospital and complement the provision of NHS healthcare at the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre."

He hoped the affordable housing would assist the recruitment of nurses in Oxfordshire. The city's principal planning officer, Paul Semple, said: "The physical moving of the hospital from the proximity of Horwood Close overcomes our earlier concerns about its height.

"But the principal issue is about the amount of car parking on the site."

He said the city was now awaiting the view of the county council, which as highways authority had earlier been critical of the scheme. But one resident criticised the developers for trying to slip their plans through "while the people of Headington are too busy writing their Christmas cards to notice.

Stephanie Jenkins, of the New Headington Housing Association, said: "I suspect that many local people do not yet know that this plan has been submitted.

But Mr Jowett said leaflets about the scheme had been delivered to hundreds of homes . The scheme would help Oxford United finance its relocation to Minchery Farm, Littlemore.