FORMER civic leaders last night claimed there had been a “massive collective failure” in the building of student accommodation blocks near Port Meadow.

Five former Lord Mayors of the city have welcomed talks between the city council and Oxford University, which is building in Roger Dudman Way.

At a planning meeting last Thursday, councillors voted to begin talks with the university to try to persuade it to reduce the height of the buildings.

In a letter to the Oxford Mail, Lib Dems John Goddard, Alan Armitage and Jim Campbell, along with Labour’s Mary Clarkson and Green Elise Benjamin, said they acknowledged the need for more student accommodation but said the impact of the new buildings on Port Meadow had not been forseen.

The letter said: “We believe that, without any evil intent, there has been a massive collective failure to properly anticipate and visualise the outcome.”

They said failure to act would cause “lasting damage”.

A university spokesman said: ‘A meeting on Friday [with the city council] was the first of what will probably be several conversations and we will have more to say when these discussions have been completed.”