PLANS to replace Cowley Conservative Club with 150 student flats have sparked fears of cars swamping surrounding streets.
The four storey Between Towns Road building would have space for 152 bicycles, but only four visitor and two car parking spaces for club members, compared to about 30 now.
Residents have said there is nothing to stop students parking their cars in surrounding streets. However, the developer said students who used cars would face eviction.
The new development, which is being backed by Oxford Brookes University, would also house the club and a shop.
But people living in nearby St Luke’s Road hit out.
Tracy Bough, 40, said surrounding streets were already busy with parked cars from workers at Oxfordshire County Council offices in Between Towns Road.
She said: “I am really shocked, it would be quite a monstrosity.”
Conservative club member David Purcell, 77, said: “It is absolutely ridiculous.
“There are already enough flats as it is, Brookes might as well take over Oxford. I have lived here 50 years and this is definitely the biggest thing I have seen.”
Oxford City Council has a no cars policy for student developments.
But it was revealed in March the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency no longer provides details of cars spotted parked on streets close to Brookes.
Critics said this meant the policy was unenforceable.
Askett-Hawk Developments chief executive Ian Pearce said leases would demand students do not use cars and those who broke it would get a warning with eviction for further breaches.
Managers would “soon get to know” who is using a car, he said. “It is very effective, much more so than students in houses of multiple occupation.”
The club received a payment for the deal, he said, but refused to give an amount.
Club president Gary Dixon was not available for comment.
John Sanders, a Cowley and Littlemore Labour county councillor, said: “There is absolutely no way that the authorities can prevent students from having cars.”
Brooke’s director of corporate affairs Anne Gwinnett said: “All our students living in university accommodation are banned from bringing cars to the city, and we enforce this with clear penalties.”
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