A PROJECT to build flats that would be seen by thousands of people every day because of its location on the Cutteslowe Roundabout could get permission tomorrow.

Developers want to demolish two semi-detached homes at the top of Banbury Road and replace them with nine flats.

The building, which council officers said would be built in a ‘prominent corner of Banbury Road and Elsfield Way’, would be three storeys tall in parts and four storeys tall in others.

There would be three two-bedroom flats on the ground floor; two two-bedroom flats and one one-bedroom flat would be built on the second floor; while the third and fourth floors would include three three-bedroom flats.

Occupiers of ground floor flats would have a small private garden area, while people living in the upper floors’ flats would have a balcony or a roof terrace.

The building project also includes 10 parking spaces – which would provide one for each flat, plus one more for a visitor, bin storage and two bike stores for 24 bikes.

It would be built on the south east corner of the roundabout. Currently, the south west corner of the roundabout features Churchill House, a nine-flat development approved in 2007.

A house, Summers Place, is in the north west corner of the roundabout, while the north east corner has a three storey development given permission in 2009. That has six two-bedroom flats.

Council officers said the area boasts ‘a variety of architectural styles’.

Oxfordshire County Council’s highways department was initially reluctant to support the project because it said inadequate safety details had been given. But it has since withdrawn those objections.

Although the units that could be converted are officially houses, in 1988 planning permission was granted to use one of them as an interview suite.

In 1996, Thames Valley Police was given permission to use the other house as a community police office.

City council planning officers said they had asked developers whether a flat could be designated as ‘affordable’ – but they were told ‘the development would not be viable if an affordable housing contribution was made.’

New residents in the proposed building would drive onto Banbury Road. Any access onto Elsfield Way would be pedestrian only.

In planning committee documents, council officers state: “The proposed development would not be detrimental to the amenities and living conditions of the neighbouring properties.

“On balance, the proposed development complies with the national and local policies. The viability assessment conclude that the site is not viable to contribute to provide affordable housing somewhere else in Oxford.”

The application will be decided by the West Area planning committee at a meeting at Oxford Town Hall tomorrow.