County councillors have agreed to fast-track a planning application to divert two footpaths in Oxford so that a cancer centre can open on time.

Last week it was feared that the £125m cancer centre at the Churchill Hospital in Headington would not be able to open this summer as planned, due to a legal error, which overlooked the diversion of the two paths which run across the site.

The paths needed to be diverted due to construction work on the car park for the cancer and haematology centre. But developers built a wall over part of the proposed new route - meaning the paths had to be diverted again.

Councillors at a planning and regulation committee have now agreed to fast-track the application, which would usually take three years to process.

Labour county councillor Barbara Gatehouse said: "I could not bear to think that something so important as a cancer centre could be held up by a mistake or an oversight."

Following the meeting, solicitor Stephen Pasterfield, acting for principal contractor Churchill Construction Consortium, said the councillors' decision to fast-track the application was sensible and meant the consortium would be able to hand over the building to Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust in March, as expected.

Heather Barnett, a spokesman for the trust, added: "We are pleased that Oxfordshire County Council has agreed to support this application to divert the footpaths.

"We remain confident of taking over the cancer and haematology centre this summer as planned."

It emerged last week that the city council and the developers did not achieve the necessary diversions before or during the development phase.

The cancer and haematology centre will include 217 beds, an intensive care unit and 10 operating theatres - bringing all cancer services in Oxford under one roof for the first time.

County councillors were told that there would be no additional cost to fast-tracking the application and that costs would be recovered from the applicant.

They agreed the recommendation that the application to divert the two footpaths should be treated as an "exceptional priority" and instructed officers to begin processing the application immediately.

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, chairman of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital's patient and public involvement forum, said: "It is splendid news."

Chris Hall, spokesman for the Open Spaces Society in Oxfordshire, said the application could still take many months to process. He said: "I think it should have been handled normally.

"If they had looked at the map when they got planning permission in 2004, they would have seen there was a public right of way and they could have taken the appropriate steps straightaway."