Boaters thrown out of an Oxford boatyard are hoping a housing development planned for the site will be a hub for their community.

Canal dwellers who were evicted from the Castle Mill boatyard, in Jericho, have come up with an idea to preserve the working boating heritage at the now derelict yard.

They propose a chandlery, a shop for boating supplies, and a community centre for both boaters and residents to be built alongside housing.

They have been in negotiations with British Waterways about a second site, for industrial repairs, to be provided away from the housing.

About 100 boaters aim to join forces and become a co-operative, and hope to lease a yard from British Waterways.

One of the boaters, John Keyes, said: "Being by the waterside increases the value of property. An active and working boating community will make it even more attractive to the prospective buyers.

"It could be a hub for boaters and landers. A second site for repairs would have to be away from housing as it is noisy.

Eugene Baston, spokesman for British Waterways, said: "We are looking into the possibility of facilities for repairs. The sale of the site is close to being agreed and it will be up to the boaters to talk to the new owners about facilities."

Peter Strong, an anthropologist from Walton Manor, North Oxford, has formed a group of philanthropists who hope to buy the land, valued at £4m, and keep it as a boatyard. But Mr Keyes described the idea as a "pipe dream" if the money wasn't there to back it up.

Fran Ryan, treasurer of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust, said the trust, a legal mechanism to enable land to be put into community ownership, could help Mr Strong use the land for the community.