HOUSING group, A2 Winchester, is on collision course with planning chiefs over a project to build 72 student flats.

It has lodged an appeal after Winchester City Council rejected the scheme to expand Erasmus Park student village in Easton Lane, Winnall.

Built in the mid 1990s, it currently has 385 flats, which are used mainly by those attending Winchester School of Art. Students at Sparsholt College and the University of Winchester also occupy some of the units.

A2 Winchester runs the site on behalf of the landowner, Southampton University. The housing group said that the current supply of student flats in Winchester could not meet demand.

Last year, due to a lack of space in its halls of residence, the University of Winchester billeted 150 first year students in houses in Stanmore.

Six months ago it gained permission to build 382 flats in seven blocks at Queens Road behind its main campus.

They are due to be completed in late 2009, but Margaret Newbigin, chief executive of A2 Winchester, said demand in the city would still outweigh supply.

She said: "Even with the plan that the University of Winchester is putting into place behind its main campus, there will still be a shortage of student accommodation in the city.

"This is the reason that we put in our own application, but it was turned down."

She added that council officers used delegated powers to reject it, arguing that the proposed block would be too large.

At five storeys, it would be the tallest building in Erasmus Park, but she said it would be only slightly higher than the other ones because it would be built on a low-lying land.

Now that A2 Winchester has challenged the decision, the Planning Inspectorate will resolve the matter, which could lead to a public inquiry later this year.