A new housing development is under way on land off the busy Cutteslowe roundabout in north Oxford.

Banbury-based Cala Homes has been given planning permission to demolish Roundabout House and build four four-bedroomed homes and garages in its place.

Roundabout House was once the home of Colonel Henry Eric Hebbert, who died in 1980.

Col Hebbert was the chairman of the A40 Association, a protest group opposed to the ring road near his home being made a dual carriageway.

The Oxford Civic Society objected to the plan for new homes on traffic grounds but planning permission was granted by the city council and work has now begun.

An original application for a block of 18 two-bedroomed flats and a block of five garages with a two-bedroomed flat above it was withdrawn in February following protests.

Kate Miller, planning secretary for the civic society, said: "The second application was much more acceptable than the first, although we did object to both plans.

"When the first application was submitted we felt the site was too cramped to accommodate it, but it could be big enough for four new homes.

"It is a very large roundabout used by lots of traffic and one of our key concern was problems with traffic on such a busy corner. I think it could be a very noisy place to live."

Cala Homes boards have now been put up on the site to indicate that work is starting.

No-one from the company was available for comment.

Cala Homes also has planning permission to build flats at the corner of Marston Ferry Road and Banbury Road and has cleared space in preparation for construction work.