OXFORD could become home to only the second carbon-neutral retail and affordable housing development in the country.

Proposals for a mulit-million-pound zero-emissions development, possibly in the Union Street car park behind the Cowley Road Tesco store, are to go on show next week.

There is only one other Zed in the country - the Beddington Zero Energy Development, or BedZED, in Surrey.

Oxford City Council's east area committee is spending £10,000 on initial feasibility studies.

Sid Phelps, who is on the Green-controlled east area committee and is also chairman of the council's environment scrutiny committee, said: "There is a lot of talk nationally about these sort of things, but there are very few at the moment and Oxford city would like to be one of the fore-runners in this.

"We have got some money to look at the feasibility of such a project, so now we want to get people on board with the idea."

He said the Union Street car park was being considered as a possible site as it was owned by the council.

But he said that the project was still in the theoretical stage, and that the Zed could end up being built somewhere completely different if Union Street proved impractical.

"We want people to buy into this vision and see what's possible and then try and actually make the vision happen," he said.

"It's fairly early days but you have got to start somewhere.

"One development won't change the world and won't change our energy consumption, but the principle of having the Zed is quite fundamental for Oxford and it would be very significant to show it can happen. To get one designed and built for Oxford would be wonderful."

The development could include about 20 homes, some of which could be affordable, and could be built on stilts to allow parking underneath.

It would feature wind turbines, solar panels and disks, solar-thermal heating, south-facing windows and a high standard of thermal insulation to minimise heat loss.

Mr Phelps said building the Zed would cost millions of pounds and the council would not undertake the project alone.

Possible partners, such as housing associations and architects, would be approached to invest in the scheme.

But he was confident that the Zed could become a reality and be built within the next two to three years.

He added: "Oxford is an academic centre that is pushing at climate change mitigation and the council has a role to play in that. It would be very significant if we could be the second place in the country to get the Zed."

Chris Jardine, senior researcher at the Oxford Environmental Change Institute, said: "I think it's a very promising development indeed, which could enable people to have a very low carbon lifestyle within that development.

"These kinds of developments are massively important because if you look at carbon emissions in the UK, housing is responsible for about a third of all carbon dioxide emissions.

"Architecture in the future will have to be along similar lines to what is being proposed for Oxford. Ideally in a couple of years' time, these things won't be a story - it will be the way in which everything is done."

The drawings will be on show from Monday to next Saturday at the Town Hall, between 10am and 6pm.

The BedZED, in Wallington, Surrey, was built in 2002 as a joint project between developer the Peabody Trust, Bill Dunster Architects and the BioRegional Development Group.

It is the UK's largest carbon-neutral eco-community and is a mixed-use, mixed-tenure development built on reclaimed land owned by the London Borough of Sutton.

It is made up of 83 homes and is built from materials that store heat during warm conditions and release heat at cooler times. This material, where possible, is natural, recycled or reclaimed.

The scheme also has a green transport plan promoting walking, cycling and use of public transport. A car pool for residents has been established.