CRACKED and crumbling pavements in Frideswide Square are plaguing Oxfordshire County Council just five months after the £6.7m project was completed.

The council has announced it will repair the square in summer, blaming coach and lorry drivers who it claims is cutting corners and mounting the kerb.

David Nimmo Smith, who is on the county council's cabinet and chairs its Transport Advisory Panel, said: "Lorries and coaches are driving up the edges are cracking it. We are annoyed at lorry drivers and coach drivers.

"The redevelopment has made the area much more attractive and welcoming, which was the real aim as well as helping traffic. That side of it has worked. But we have got vehicles cutting the corner outside the Royal Oxford hotel."

Wheels can easily mount the pavement at the roundabout as the kerb is dropped, a design feature which Mr Nimmo Smith said was "a deliberate move to make it a shared space".

Phil Southall, managing director of Oxford Bus Company, said: "The narrow design of the mini roundabout approach unfortunately makes the left turn from Hythe Bridge Street impossible for our longer vehicles to achieve without striking the kerb.

"We are currently awaiting the results of a health and safety audit of the new square which has been commissioned by the county council. In the meantime we have instructed our drivers to take extreme caution when making the turn."

The square, next to Oxford Railway Station, fully opened to the public in December after months of building work.

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: "We are aware of the damage which we believe had been caused by heavy vehicles such as lorries and coaches driving over this area while being diverted during the Westgate work.

“We have been monitoring the damage for a few weeks and we intend to carry out remedial works in summer 2016. In the meantime we ask that drivers to follow the highway code and use the road rather than the footway.”