METAL storage containers will stay – for now – on land destined to become housing in the near future.

Sixteen storage boxes will remain at Hill View Farm just inside the Oxford Ring Road near Marston, having been there since 2013 according to a council report.

The retention of the containers on the farm was agreed by Oxford City Council's east area planning committee at a meeting last Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Film star Florence Pugh shines at the Oscars

The Oxford Preservation Trust had written to the council to object to the large metal boxes being kept on the former farm site.

The farm is in green belt land, meaning it is considered to be untouched countryside which has never been built on before.

OPT argued there were no 'special circumstances' which meant the boxes should be kept on the green belt land.

At the meeting, a city council staff member said they did not think it was inappropriate for the containers to be kept there, and added the land could become housing in the near future if city council plans go ahead.

In Oxford City Council's new local plan, Hill View Farm is marked down as a potential area of green belt land where houses could be built in the future.

The local plan is a document which sets out the areas of Oxford where developers can build new homes between now and 2034.

Two government inspectors are currently writing a report to Oxford City Council, telling them what parts of the plan need to be changed to make sure it is legal.

This follows a series of public hearings held throughout December, after which inspectors agreed the council had shown housing need in Oxford was dire enough to allow building on green belt land.

Though the site is called Hill View Farm it has not been used for farming in more than 10 years.

ALSO READ: The disruption across Oxfordshire caused by the weekend's stormy weather

According to the report to the planning committee, it has been used for storage throughout that time, and council staff think keeping boxes on the site will not mean the way it is used will change.

The committee agreed to give the owner of the site, a Mr Dogar, permission to keep the 16 storage containers for a temporary period of three years.

This was agreed because when the three years are up, the council can go back and take a look at whether the storage containers have had any impact on the local area.

Similar temporary applications have been granted extensions by council planners in recent months.

In January, Oxfordshire County Council granted a three-year extension on two temporary classrooms in the grounds of St James CE Primary School in Cowley, which had previously been granted an extension in 2016.