A slanging match broke out as councillors finally gave the go-ahead for a controversial homeless project, writes Mark Templeton.

Two Oxford City councillors repeatedly shouted "shut up" at each other across the council chamber during a heated debate on the Junction scheme.

Councillors eventually approved the project dogged by controversy from the start but not before a war of words broke out between Liberal Democrat Michael McAndrews and Labour's Carole Roberts.

Cllr Roberts said it had taken two years for the Junction project to get this far because Liberal Democrat councillors had tried to make political gain and there had been a deliberate attempt to "get at" council leader John Tanner.

But Cllr McAndrew disputed this, saying she did "not have a clue" about homeless issues.

But Cllr Roberts said she had been homeless herself with her two children. "Don't you dare tell me I don't know what I'm talking about," she added.

The two then proceeded to shout "shut up" and "no, you shut up" at each other until the Lord Mayor, Val Smith brought them to order.

Original plans were thrown out after they were described as "institutional" and Liberal Democrats tried to block the scheme again, with Cllr John Goddard saying the building design was mediocre. Cllr Mike Woodin, of the Green Party, said the Junction plans still resembled a prison.

The Junction will be a four-storey building with 36 single bedsits, training facilities and an information service built on the former Abbey Place car park, Oxford.

The scheme, which was supposed to be the council's "Millennium project", has met with opposition since it was launched. A protest group, the Residents of St Ebbe's Society, Roses, was set up to fight the scheme.

The scaled-down project will free up land for a housing development on the site. An outline application for 18 flats has been deferred.