RESIDENTS in North Oxford are protesting against the demolition of a Victorian house so that five houses can be built in its place.

The owner of 26 Lathbury Road has applied for planning permission to demolish the house and build one five-bedroom house, and two semi-detached four-bedroom properties in its place.

The four-bedroom houses would consist of up to five floors, including basement rooms, rooms in the roof, and a roof terrace.

But residents living in Lathbury Road say the development would look out of place in the conservation area.

They are also concerned that ten additional parking spaces and a new access on to Lathbury Road would endanger 60 young children being dropped off at Lathbury Road nursery every day, and pupils attending St Clare's International College.

Dr Amanda Kennedy, who lives in a nearby street, said: "The development will change the nature of the area because there will be a lot more traffic.

"The house is in a conservation area and at one point it was going to be listed. A lot of residents in the street are not happy with the proposals."

Dr Kennedy, who has three children, Gus, 16, Phoebe, 11, and Daniel, moved to north Oxford three weeks ago from Australia and found herself caught up in the planning row.

She added: "The house that is going to be demolished is a beautiful old building on a corner plot. It has a little chapel in the garden - I think it was a bishop's house at one point.

"The development will have a huge impact on the Victorian conservation area if it is allowed to go ahead."

No one from Kemp & Kemp, the Oxford-based property consultant acting for the developers, was available for comment.

In recent years residents in North Oxford have expressed concern that the character of the city's most celebrated suburb is being undermind by new developments. The number of large homes being pulled down to make way for apartments or smaller homes has led to calls for the creation of a new conservation area to protect properties on and around the Woodstock Road.

It is feared homes dating back to the 1930s not old enough to be listed are being increasingly targeted by developers anxious to create new townhouses.

Three conservation areas already exist in the area. The first is the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area, which stretches from St Giles in the south to Frenchay and Belbroughton Roads in the north and from the banks of the Oxford Canal to the Cherwell. It is said to encompass "the essential North Oxford".

The second is the Walton Manor Conservation Area, south of the North Oxford Conservation Area and north of Jericho, while the third is the Wolvercote and Godstow Conservation Area.

Louisa Dean, a spokesman for the city council, said planning officers were due to deal with the application under delegated powers unless city councillors "called in" the application. The issue would then be resolved at a north area committee meeting some time in November or December.