FEWER students could live in private rented accommodation under plans that could be rolled out by Oxford City Council.

Currently the council formally allows 6,000 full-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at Oxford University and Oxford Brookes to live outside their institutions' accommodation.

It hopes to whittle that number down to 5,000 in a wider attempt to control the city's housing crisis.

The council currently gives the universities an equal split of 3,000 students each who can live outside university accommodation. It is proposing Oxford Brookes is given a larger allowance of 3,500, while Oxford University’s is reduced by half to 1,500.

The universities have routinely exceeded their student targets, with about 3,800 Brookes students in rental accommodation last year.

But the council has warned the universities it has the authority to halt any expansion in the future if they does not adhere to the cap in future.

It would form part of its local plan, which will outline development in the city until 2036.

Oxford University’s pro-vice chancellor for planning, Professor William James, said the university is keen to work with the council – but that it does not feel the 1,500-student cap proposed is possible now.

He said: “We share the city council’s concerns about housing pressures.

"Our students and early career staff are looking for appropriate affordable housing.

“We are working with the city to formulate a more appropriate target for taught students living out and believe we could responsibly aim for a figure substantially below the current 3,000 cap. "Further work is needed to understand the figures, but we do not currently feel a target of 1,500 is achievable in the short term.”

City council executive board member for planning and regulatory services, councillor Alex Hollingsworth, said: “The number was set a long time ago and the council is proposing to update it to reflect the shifts in the type of students studying at the universities.

"The preferred option that we are consulting on is to set a baseline figure for each university based on their full time students on taught courses, and to set the policy so the number reduces over time, encouraging the universities to continue to increase the amount of accommodation that they provide for their students."

Oxford Brookes' director of estates and facilities, Sue Holmes, said: "We welcome the council’s proposals.

"Last year, having reviewed our current portfolio of student accommodation, the university produced a summary of our developing strategy for student residences for our Oxford-based campuses.

"We are now actively working towards increasing our student accommodation, preferably on campus, which will help to manage the number of students living in the local community."

The consultation into Oxford City Council's local plan finishes on August 25.