Plans to demolish Dorset House in Headington to make way for accommodation blocks for 363 students have been withdrawn after neighbours' protests.

The scheme to build five accommodation blocks on the site of the large Victorian property in London Road sparked an outcry.

The development company Quintain decided to withdraw the application after a scathing report by city planners, urging councillors to reject the scheme.

The report said that while student accommodation for the location was acceptable in principle, the loss of residential buildings of local interest was not justified.

The report added: "The overall size, bulk and massing of the development and proposed materials would appear detrimental to the character of the area."

Oxford Brookes University had been approached by the developers to see if it was interested in using the development for students, but no agreement had been reached.

It is the second major student accommodation proposal to be dropped recently in the face of resident complaints about areas of Oxford becoming "swamped" by student accommodation.

Last week Exeter College confirmed that it was withdrawing plans to build 82 flats in Iffley Road. Exeter said it had wasted up to £100,000 drawing up plans to develop land behind Stapleton House, a former hotel it bought in the 1960s.

Tony Joyce, chairman of the Oxford Civic Society, welcomed the news that Dorset House, dating from 1886, had been saved.

He said: "We are pleased that the applicants have seen sense and withdrawn what was an unacceptable application in the first place.

"There should now been an opportunity for some discussions involving Brookes and local residents so that an acceptable proposal for the site might be produced."

Hugh Mellor, of planning consultants Kemp and Kemp acting for Quintain, said: "Quintain will reflect on the officers' report. The company will then consider the possibility of producing a revised report at some time in the future."