The owner of Oxford's iconic Headington Shark house has become embroiled in a row with Oxford City Council over whether it should be protected.

Magnus Hanson-Heine is adamant he does not want it added to the city council's list of important pieces of heritage.

Oxford City Council is asking residents to comment on 17 potential new additions to the Oxford Heritage Asset Register.

These include the Shark sculpture at 2 New High Street, Headington, which now draws hundreds visitors.

Inclusion of a building or place on the register “helps to influence planning decisions in a way that conserves and enhances local character”.

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It does not place any extra legal requirements on owners.

Mr Hanson-Heine, 34, inherited the house from his late dad Bill, in 2016 and it is now a star attraction on Airbnb.

Bill Heine, an American-born journalist and broadcaster, installed the statue in secret without planning permission in 1986 and a six-year planning row with Oxford City Council immediately erupted.

His son said there were two aspects to his objection to its inclusion on the heritage asset register.

He said he feared it was “a stepping stone” towards getting it listed on a national basis, meaning more planning controls – although “this is academic as I have no intention of removing it”.

If that happened, he said, it would go against the purpose of the sculpture, which was to protest against planning restrictions and censorship.

He said: “My father always resisted giving any conclusive answer to the question what was the meaning of it as it was designed to make people think for themselves, and decide for themselves what is art.

“But it was anti the bombing of Tripoli by the Americans, anti-nuclear proliferation, anti-censorship in the form of planning laws specifically."

He said he did not 'resent' the council for the years it spent trying to have the controversial sculpture removed or for finally approving of it.

He said: “I see what they are trying to do and I’m sure it’s very well intentioned. But they don’t view it now as what it is.

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“You grow up with these things, they become part of the scenery and you lose focus of what they mean."

The Quantum chemist, who works at Nottingham University, also said the consultation form asking for responses made it very difficult to dispute anything at all.

He said: “The nomination forms have been, let’s say, lacking in that they do not really provide an option to object to the listing for listing’s sake.

They ask questions like ‘do you think it adds value to the area’ which most people would say, yes it does. They have not given the option to say no. They have not truly consulted in that sense."

The consultation ends on January 26 after the deadline was extended from December.

A decision will then be taken as to whether the nominations should be added to the register.