Residents are claiming victory in their long- running campaign to limit the number of students living in private Oxford homes.

Oxford Brookes University is slashing its student numbers by 15 per cent, despite being one of the few universities to see a surge in applications.

The move could cost Brookes up to £16m as tuition fees rise from September to £9,000 a year.

The university confirmed it is to cut back on undergraduates to meet council limits on students living in private housing.

The minutes of a meeting with residents’ groups says: “The university has a strategy to reduce full-time under-graduate student numbers by 15 per cent over three years.

This is to enable the university to achieve its requirements to reduce students in the private sector.”

Under city council planning policies, both city universities could be prevented from moving into new buildings until fewer than 3,000 of their respective students are living in city homes.

The council’s monitoring report for 2010/11 shows that 3,251 Oxford University students were living in city houses, up from 2,991 last year. Brookes’ total rose from 3,493 to 3,611.

Based on a present student population of about 12,000, it is estimated the reduction will amount to some 1,800 undergraduates.

Elizabeth Mills, chairman of Divinity Road Area Residents’ Association, said: “For so long Brookes has been saying that they were well on track in terms of meeting the council target and there was no reason to make a fuss.

“But it has now acknowledged that it will have to do something to reduce the number of undergraduates living in houses of multiple occupation. It does show that pressure from community groups can make a difference by raising an issue.”

The cutback in student numbers will begin in September.

Oxford Brookes spokesman Edward Read said: “We put the experience our students receive at the centre of our decision on how to respond to Government changes in funding. A key part of this was the agreement to reduce on-campus undergraduate student numbers to ensure there is a better ratio of staff to students on our degree programmes.”

Oxford University said yesterday it has no plans to reduce student numbers.