Controversial plans for homes on the site of a former nursing home will go-ahead after an 11th-hour deal, writes Mark Templeton.

A planning inquiry was due to be heard today into Oxfordshire County Council's plans to redevelop the Oseney Court home, Botley Road, Oxford.

But this will not now go ahead, after Oxford City Council agreed it would pass planning consent for 40 homes, a third of which will be for people on the council's register for renting. Oseney Court was controversially closed as part of social service cuts and will be used to house asylum-seekers for a year before being redeveloped.

But county councillor John Power vowed to carry on the fight to re-open Oseney Court.

He said: This is an international city, yet there is no old age pensioners' accommodation here, and that is a scandal."