Police say plans to build on St Clements car park risk creating a new city crime hotspot, as it emerged that car parks in Headington and East Oxford could also face development.

Police are unhappy with the designs for housing for 141 students on the St Clements car park, warning it could increase crime and antisocial behaviour in an area that already sees high levels of offences.

The police intervention and the growing anger of city traders threaten to call into question plans to build on city council-owned car parks around Oxford — proposals that would put millions into town hall coffers The city council this week published a list of 100 potential development sites in the city.

The 130-vehicle car park in Headington, next to Waitrose, is on the list, as is the Diamond Place car park in Summertown, as revealed in The Oxford Times earlier this month, along with a large car park at the rear of the Vue cinema complex in Grenoble Road, and the Union Street car park behind the Tesco Metro in Cowley Road.

The Oxford Times recently disclosed that the main car park in Summertown was also on this list.

Waitrose, which only opened its new store in Headington last year, said it had written to the city council seeking clarification on what was planned.

A planning application has already been submitted to build four blocks of student accommodation on stilts on the St Clements car park, with local traders warning the loss of parking could turn the area into a “ghost town”.

Police expressed their concerns in a letter to council planning chief Michael Crofton-Briggs.

Police crime prevention design expert Lesley Nesbitt wrote: “The pillars that form stilts will hinder surveillance opportunities across the car park area to provide potential hiding places and during the hours of darkness may create dark shadowed areas, all of which will provide offenders with opportunity to conceal themselves and commit crime.

“The undercroft parking areas would also provide a large sheltered area for people to gather and loiter and this will lead to the covered areas being abused, creating potential for antisocial behaviour such as drug and alcohol abuse or sleeping areas for homeless people, all of which could make the area feel quite hostile and will increase the fear of crime in this area for the students and the public.”

The police say that the area of St Clements, including the car park, and nearby Angel and Greyhound Meadows, historically have seen “a high number of crimes and incidents of antisocial behaviour reported”.

The force expressed disappointment that, after spelling this out at a meeting with planning officers and architects, police views appeared not to have been taken on board.

The designs have also come under fire from Oxford Civic Society.

Kate Joyce, OCS planning secretary, said: “The design of the blocks is dreary, bland monotonous, undistinguished and overbearing.”

The Watkin Jones Group submitted a planning application last month to build a six-storey building and three other buildings of three and four storeys on the car park.

Architect Justin Griffiths said: “We are at the stage where comments are coming in, Thames Valley Police’s being one of them. We want to try to incorporate people’s comments, although it is not always possible.”

Oxford City Council stands to make up to £3.5m if the St Clements scheme goes ahead.

But traders say the closure of the car park during construction could prove the final straw for many shops, bars and restaurants already struggling to survive in troubled economic times.

An Oxford City Council spokesman said: “We will take the comments made by Thames Valley Police and others and discuss them with the applicant before we consider the application.”

Traders in Headington reacted with shock to news that the Witorse car park is on the new city council list. Elaine Bellenger, of the Monaco fashion shop in Old High Street, said: “Building on the car park would be outrageous.”