A PROMINENT house which developers say is bad for the environment could be demolished and replaced with a greener alternative – but residents are opposed.

The building at 327 Woodstock Road in North Oxford is said to be ‘run-down’ but developers said it would not be efficient to improve it.

Instead, they want to flatten the plot before building a modern three-storey building containing seven flats.

In a statement filed as part of their planning application, developers state: “The condition of the house is not good; it suffers from a lack of ongoing care and is showing its age.

“It was built over a century ago, with solid walls with no cavity, single-glazed sash windows, and no insulation, so it certainly does not meet current standards in terms of sustainability and energy performance.

“It has a very large ongoing carbon footprint which cannot be mitigated except with substantial and uneconomic investment.”

But residents nearby have already submitted complaints about the potential replacement.

One complains that the current proposals are ‘totally out of character with the rest of this highly visible road, the entrance to the city’.

Another said they were worried for nine reasons, varying from the effect to the area’s character to the impact on pollution and privacy.

The plan was submitted at the start of May but the first comments were submitted on Sunday.

The new development would have three two-bedroom flats, two three-bedroom flats and two one-bedroom flats.

The developers say they would like future residents to use nearby streets for parking but the county council has said that would be undesirable.

In a response by the county council, it said it is not against the project as a whole but that it would be against the parking proposal.

Its response notes: “Despite the applicant’s intention to use the existing parking permits to allow future residents to park in nearby street, it is recommended that the applicant forfeits their right to parking permits in order to make this application acceptable.

“This is to ensure that this development doesn’t cause any additional parking stress/demand to the local area.”

The city council has said it is opposed to new flat complex near shops and transport routes having their own parking spaces.

It recently passed a planning application for 38 flats in Cowley on the site of the former Murco petrol station.

That was given permission in April after a protracted planning process.

It will not have parking as standard for residents.

Residents will be discouraged from having a car. The only spaces will be for service vehicles or disabled residents.