Town councillors are keeping a watch on plans to close Bicester's Jobcentre.

The centre in Manorsfield Road is due to be shut next April because it is not big enough to become a Jobcentre Plus.

Many Jobcentres are being combined with the Benefits Agency to provide one-stop centres to be called Jobcentre Plus.

The Bicester office will be replaced by computerised job information points in places like the public library, in Old Place Yard, and supermarkets.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "If people have to travel to a Jobcentre Plus in Oxford they might be able to claim expenses."

Lawrie Stratford, a town and district councillor, said: "A Jobcentre is a source of information. While Bicester has low unemployment we are losing manufacturing jobs in line with the national trend."

He said he did not think it was a reasonable suggestion that people should have to travel to Oxford or Banbury to visit a Jobcentre Plus.