OXFORDSHIRE'S speed cameras are set to be switched on, it has emerged today, three months after they were turned off.

The 72 fixed camera sites were turned off on August 1 after Oxfordshire County Council withdrew its funding to Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership, the organisation that co-ordinates speed enforcement.

The decision brought a storm of protest as road safety groups and residents warned it would lead to an increase in accidents.

Today the Oxford Mail can reveal the police and council are near a deal that would see the cameras re-activated.

A county spokesman said: "We've been in discussion with our partners at Thames Valley Police and we're close to an agreement to have the cameras switched back on in the future.

"We look forward to being able to reveal the detail of that agreement in future weeks."

The county had withdrawn £600,000 in funding to the Safer Roads Partnership - an organisation of the police and local roads authorities in the Thames Valley - because of cuts in the money it received from central Government.

Oxfordshire was the only authority in the region to do this, with the police mobile speed camera and the enforcement cameras still operating in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.

Within days of the switch-off there was evidence that motorists were ignoring the redundant camera housings with speeds increasing.