Campaigners have scored a victory in their fight to save an old people's home.

Cutteslowe Court, in Wyatt Road, north Oxford, was to be demolished and replaced by housing under plans to raise millions of pounds for Oxfordshire County Council.

The council hoped to win planning permission yesterday - but was instead ordered by city planners to reconsider putting new housing for the elderly on the site.

Protesters, who have been campaigning to save the old people's home for more than a year, hailed the decision as a minor victory.

Former county councillor, Janet Todd, who helped collect a 300-signature petition against the plans and won the support of 30 local doctors, said: "I am delighted, but it is not all over yet. We must press the county council to continue to provide sheltered accommodation in north Oxford."

Cutteslowe Court, which opened in 1960, became a victim of social services budget cuts when it closed last December.

The county council plans to build 31 flats on the site and would use cash from the development to build a new old people's home elsewhere in Oxford.

Maureen Christian, chairman of the planning committee, said: "We are all extremely uneasy about this. I think that if the county council was determined to keep this as elderly housing accommodation they could do it with the existing building."

A decision on the plans was deferred, with the committee saying it was minded to refuse planning permission if it meant facilities for the elderly being lost.

A decision on granting outline planning permission for a hostel and training scheme for young people, on the site of the Abbey Place car park, in Oxpens, was also deferred by city planners.

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