New flats in Oxford to 'encourage low-income students'

St Peter's College is to build new student accommodation opposite Oxford's castle.

Plans to build new student accommodation in central Oxford have been given the go ahead.

Brasenose College is to refurbish and extend its building in Frewin Quad, off New Inn Hall Street, to 30 bedrooms.

Meanwhile, St Peter's College has been given permission to build a block of 54 flats on the site of Castle Hill House.

Judith Buchanan, master of the college, said the new flats would help it attract "bright candidates from low-income backgrounds".

Both Oxford University colleges said the new flats would take students out of privately rented homes in the city and free them up for other people.

St Peter's plans for Castle Hill House, near the city's castle, will see the current building demolished and a new four-storey block constructed.

Debbie Dance, of the Oxford Civic Society, raised concerns about the new building obscuring a view of the castle mound from Bullwarks Lane, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The area around Castle Hill House is part of the medieval core of Oxford, and the civic society has previously raised concerns about the historic architecture being lost.

Both sites also required listed building consent for construction work to take place and city councillors granted planning permission on Tuesday.