OXFORD Brookes University is under mounting pressure to rethink its plans for a £150m new campus from an alliance of conservationist and residents’ groups.

The university’s plans to redevelop its Gipsy Lane campus as “a new gateway to Oxford” will go before councillors in a few weeks’ time. But an upsurge of anger about the centrepiece six-storey student centre has left Brookes in no doubt that a fierce planning battle now looks to be looming.

Oxford Civic Society has condemned the building as “overbearing and inhuman in scale”, while Oxford Preservation Trust has called on the university to withdraw its planning application in the face of strong objections from its neighbours.

Since Headington Hill Residents’ Association complained that the size of the scheme would blight an already cramped area, five other residents’ groups in the Headington area have raised objections to the scheme. A petition, to be submitted to Oxford City Council next week, has been signed by more than 900 people.

The extent of the opposition has taken Oxford Brookes by surprise. In April, deputy vice-chancellor Rex Knight had said the university’s plans to replace buildings on its main Headington campus had not provoked any formal complaints from local groups.

But Debbie Dance, director of Oxford Preservation Trust, warned: “Over the last few weeks the strength of feeling against this application seems to have grown daily. If Oxford Brookes is going to succeed with this scheme, they need to think again.

“Discussions need to take place with local residents and others to see if a solution can be found that is more sympathetic to the character of the surrounding area. We hope the university will withdraw the application to allow this to happen.”

Tony Joyce, of the Oxford Civic Society, called for the centrepiece building of the scheme, housing a library, to be moved to the centre of the site. In one of 40 submissions opposing the application he wrote: “Attempting to incorporate so many university facilities into one building is, in itself, unsatisfactory.

“The dominating character of the building is increased by being constructed almost entirely of glass. Sunlight would often be unpleasantly reflected as a glare. It seems that long-term design of the campus as a whole is sacrificed for short-term expedience. Positioning a large building close to the western boundary of the site makes it tower unpleasantly over houses in Headington Hill.”

The Jack Straw’s Lane association has told the council that it fears an increase in night-time disturbance and light pollution as a result of concentrating venues for entertainment and public events on the Gipsy Lane site. New Marston (South) Residents’ Association said that the scheme would exacerbate sewerage problems in New Marston.

But the deputy vice-chancellor said: “Given the time and effort we put into consulting people, we are slightly disappointed by the number of protesters coming out of the woodwork. I think it reflects the fact that the Headington Hill residents have been effective in mobilising other residents’ groups, who will not be affected by the building. It is nowhere near them.”

Mr Knight said the university had already modified its plans to meet Headington Hill residents’ concerns about such issues as light pollution and being overlooked “We have done everything we could to address all the issues they raised. But we cannot see how we can make modifications in terms of the height of the building without seriously compromising the vision for the building.”

He said that given not everyone would accept Brookes’s belief that the development would improve the area, the needs of a small group of residents had to be balanced against those of thousands of Brookes students and staff.

Brookes hopes the new centre would open in 2012, in what would be the first phase of development stretching over a decade.

Meanwhile, residents and city councillors in Headington are also opposing plans to demolish Dorset House, a large Victorian property that previously served as Brookes’s school of occupational therapy.

The property development company Quintain, which owns the property, has submitted a demolition notice to pull down Dorset House and the buildings to the rear.