Plans for an office block in Oxford have run into opposition from staff at a nearby nursery who are concerned about children's safety during construction work.

Proposals to remove a condition on the original application - which meant work could not begin until gates were provided at St Thomas Day Nursery opposite - were deferred at a meeting of Oxford City Council's central, south and west area committee.

City councillors gave Robert Stephenson Associates' application to extend Hollybush Lodge, in Hollybush Row, Oxford, into a four-storey office block conditional approval in December. But Liz Nelson, the chair of the nursery, asked the committee to uphold the condition because of fears for the children's safety.

She said: "It's our duty as far as possible to keep the children safe. We want work on access and the gates to take place before any construction work.

"The risk of an accident and the severity of it would be devastating. In the long-term there may be little traffic once the work is done, but in the short-term both the children and the construction traffic would be using the same access."