Families living in Headington are expressing alarm at developments they say threaten their community, a public meeting heard.

More than 100 people voiced their concerns at Oxford Town Hall last night over future plans for the area.

The John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals are expected to grow as services are moved from the Radcliffe Infirmary, in the city centre.

Oxford Brookes University has also said it needs to expand.

Many residents at the meeting, called to gauge public opinion, said development in Headington was taking place too rapidly.

They were worried about increased traffic generated by the hospital expansion, rising housing prices, and fractured neighbourhoods caused by an influx of students.

John Batey, of Horseman Close, Old Marston, said: "People are just having their breath taken away by the quick expansion of the hospitals and the university. Oxford University took centuries to evolve, but these institutions are growing within a decade.

"Residents are starting to feel they are in the wrong place, when in fact it is these organisations which are in the wrong place. We feel guilty for complaining, but there has to be some balance."

Highfield Residents Association chairman Janet Isaac, of Lime Walk, Headington, said most people accepted the hospitals and were proud of Oxford Brookes, but there were problems.

She said: "We want something done with the traffic which, if the hospitals expand, will increase as more patients, visitors and staff come to the sites.

"We want Oxford Brookes to accommodate their students themselves, so that the community doesn't disappear as students move into housing in the area."

Cllr Mary Clarkson, of Marston ward, said: "Headington is having a terrible time.

"There are such big issues and there are going to be very difficult decisions to make.

"We have to work with the site we have.

"With Brookes, the way forward is to look at the number of students in purpose-built accommodation."

Views expressed at last night's meeting will be used by city council officers responsible for drawing up planning policies for the area.