CONTROVERSIAL plans to extend the opening hours of a popular East Oxford music venue should be given the go-ahead, according to officials.

The O2 Academy, in Cowley Road, has applied to open an hour earlier every day except Sunday, from 6pm instead of 7pm, and to stay open an extra four hours until 4am on Bank Holiday Sundays.

The club, which stages 300 live music events a year, is already allowed to stay open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays and 2am Monday to Thursday.

The application will be considered by the west area planning committee next Wednesday.

More than 60 letters of objection were sent in about the plans. Copywriter Ed Chipperfield, 36, a spokesman for East Oxford Residents’ Association, lives in James Street with wife Anna, and their son Jasper, two.

He said: “There were 85 objections online when I last looked – people in the area have got quite upset about this.

“Residents don’t object to the gigs but they do object to the Fuzzy Ducks student night on Wednesday.

“People have a problem with hard-drinking club nights being put on at a gig venue in the middle of the week.

“The extension to opening hours the club is asking for is small, but residents don’t like the idea of it — some of them have children and they are getting woken up in the early hours by students cruising around when they leave the club.”

Mr Chipperfield added he had met the club’s on-site manager Joe Roberts, who is chairman of East Oxford Pub Watch, for an ‘informal chat’ about the opening hours issue.

Mr Chipperfield added: “A lot of students around here think Fuzzy Ducks is an embarrassment and won’t have anything to do with it.”

Planning officers are recommending that the application to extend opening hours should be approved.

The report to councillors says: “The variation would not significantly alter the existing operating hours of this venue with the Cowley Road district centre and, in the absence of any significant objection from Thames Valley Police and licensing officers, it would be difficult to demonstrate that it would have a significant impact upon neighbouring residential properties in terms of increased noise, disturbance, and antisocial behaviour.”

Academy spokesman Louise Kovacs was last night unavailable for comment, but said earlier that a younger audience would benefit from the additional hour of 6pm admission rather than 7pm, and that manager Mr Roberts attended monthly meetings to discuss any issues with the authorities.

She added Fuzzy Ducks was a long-standing club night with up to 20 security staff present when students left the club.

The club is also applying to stay open until 6am on May 1 for May Morning celebrations.