Residents in East Oxford are celebrating after winning a David and Goliath-style battle with developers to stop Cowley Road becoming another George Street.

Agents for the Blackwells site in Cowley Road had been hoping to transform the offices into a shop, restaurant, student accommodation and study area.

But after a fiercely-fought campaign, plans were thrown out for a second time at an East Oxford area meeting this week.

Homeowners say developments like the one planned for the Blackwells site rip the heart out of the community.

Jeremy Daniel, who runs Jeremy's Stamp Centre in Cowley Road, said: "I live and work in East Oxford and own a shop two doors from Blackwells. Over the past 25 years I have seen this area deteriorate.

"Every time a new restaurant opens, competition increases and more and more businesses go down the tube.

"Why are there so many empty shops? Because no one wants to be here because it is a dead street."

Sid Phelps, ward councillor for St Mary's, told the meeting he believed Cowley Road became more like George Street every day, with its increasing number of restaurants and takeaways.

Despite a city council planning officer recommending that the committee approve the plans, they voted five to one against them, saying they were not convinced they were any different to the originals, which were thrown out at May's meeting.

Annie Skinner, of Marston Street, spoke on behalf of residents.

She said: "The strength of feeling shown when the developers first submitted their plans proves there are a lot of residents concerned about this.

"We are here again, voicing our objections with the same strength of feeling.

"East Oxford cannot remain a community if these kind of developments keep cropping up.

"Houses of multiple occupation only serve to alienate more people in the community. There is already an overload of student accommodation in the area.

"People who have lived here for decades have been moving away because of plans like these."

A spokesman for the developers said: "We are not proposing anything which will have an adverse impact on the permanent population. Students need to be housed somewhere and this development will create more than 50 jobs."