A CONTROVERSIAL plan to expand an Oxford City Council depot on green space will go ahead after councillors gave it their backing.

Land for the Marsh Road depot extension will be clawed back from Cowley Marsh Park to deliver extra space for recycling collected by the council.

The authority pulled back from delivering a similar scheme in 2015 because of public opposition but submitted a new planning application earlier this year.

Opponents of the scheme shouted 'shame!' and 'you've taken away our park!' at Oxford Town Hall after six members of the east area planning committee voted in favour of the proposal on Wednesday night.

Three councillors opposed the application.

This year 148 people registered their opposition to the scheme but the city council claimed there is no other alternative site available which would allow expansion on the scale of the Marsh Road location.

But Judith Harley, a member of the Old Temple Cowley Residents’ Association, claimed councillors had voted for ‘greed’ at the expense of a much loved community asset.

She said: "They have gone for the greed option of expanding when it does not need to be expanded.

“It is not the only council depot in Oxford.

"They could have developed it elsewhere. It's greed not need.”

Her group had delivered thousands of leaflets around the area in an effort to stop the proposal and was backed by Cowley Marsh’s Labour councillor Sajjad Malik.

He told the Oxford Mail last week that he had 'told the council took look elsewhere' and that the depot development would impact on park visitors' enjoyment.

The east area planning committee was told that in autumn 2015 councillor Mike Rowley, the city council’s current board member for housing, had sent an email claiming another site would be found because residents were angry about the plan to create more storage space for stacked wheelie bins.

But since then the council had a change of heart and said its search for alternative sites had been exhausted.

An expansion to the depot’s car park, which was included in the plan, was also passed.

The increase in the depot's size will only be allowed to last for five years and the council will need to restore the land back to its current state as soon as it can.

No timeframe for that delivery has been agreed.

The car park will be a permanent addition.

The council insisted the proposal is better than the one it put forward in 2015 because of ecological improvements which will be carried out around the site.

It has also said car parking facilities will mean better access for residents.