A £220m redevelopment scheme for Oxford's Westgate shopping centre is to be considered by a public inquiry.

Last year, Oxford City Council approved the plans by Capital Shopping Centres to double the size of the shopping centre.

The plans, put forward by Capital, LaSalle Investment Management and the city council, would also see a new bus interchange and the demolition of the Westgate multi-storey car park.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has "called in" the planning application and it will go to a public inquiry.

The Oxford Preservation Trust has opposed the plans, but the council's principal planning officer, Murray Hancock, said Mr Prescott might have asked to look at the plans himself for a number of reasons.

"He wanted to look more closely at design issues," he added.

Oxford Preservation Trust secretary Debbie Dance said: "We are concerned by the size of the development and the way it divides the east and west of the city.

"It is far too big and does not seem to bear any relation to Oxford as a whole. It's too high for the houses and some of the listed buildings opposite, including the cottages in Turnagain Lane, where we are based.

"We want to see some very big improvements to the plans before they are approved."

The inquiry will delay plans by months and could ultimately lead to the project being scrapped.

City council leader Corinna Redman said today (FRI) she was "very disappointed" that the plans would now be going before the inquiry.

She said: "We will now seek urgent talks with Capital Shopping Centres to try to reassure them that we are still very keen for this to go ahead.

"This is one of the key stages of furthering the Oxford Transport Strategy and would help us to achieve the aim of removing buses from Queen Street.

"We will try to press the Government for a hearing at the earliest possible opportunity because we want to minimise delays."

Councillors are keen for the plans to go ahead because they want to help Oxford compete with other nearby towns and cities which have new purpose-built shopping centres.

If the project does get approval, it could generate thousands of jobs for construction and retail workers.

It was hoped that shops would have been open for business by 2004.