A NEW Marriott hotel, including a restaurant and roof terrace accessible to the public, could be opened in Oxford in 2019.

Plans for the 140-bedroom hotel - to replace the Cooper Callas building in Paradise Street - were approved by the city council earlier this month and developers Dominvs Group have now released more details of the scheme.

The Courtyard by Marriott hotel will contain 'food and beverage facilities' for both hotel guests and the local community, while a roof garden and terrace will have views of the neighbouring Oxford Castle.

The historic Brewery Gate and Old Horse Hospital, which date back to the 19th century, were previously saved after initial plans to demolish them were met with hundreds of objections.

Jay Ahluwalia, on behalf of Dominvs Group, said: "We are delighted that this proposal has been deemed acceptable in both economic and heritage terms.

"The detail of the scheme has evolved following extensive consultation and engagement with officers at Oxford City Council and Historic England.

"The proposals have also been the subject of public engagement where members of the public and key stakeholders were encouraged to have an open dialogue with our development team to shape the detailed design of the proposal."

He added: "This engagement also led to us retaining the former Brewery Gate public house."

At the West area planning committee earlier this month the scheme was narrowly approved by councillors who voted five to three in favour.

But a detailed traffic plan to stop coaches and large vehicles accessing the street via Quaking Bridge still needs to be put to the committee again for approval once it is drawn up.

City councillor Alex Hollingsworth said: “We have a dire need for hotel space in the city and the basic premise of this is a good thing but traffic is a really serious concern.

“Westgate traffic is already using St Thomas’ Street as a shortcut and it’s not supposed to.”

Mr Hollingsworth voted against the plans due to the adverse impact it would have on the views of and from St George’s Tower.

The current designs are the third sets of plans to be put forward - the second scaled-down plans, retaining the historic buildings, were also objected to by residents and campaigners over its bulk and scale.

Despite further objections from campaigners Historic England backed the third set of plans and enough councillors agreed for the plans to be approved.