THE Victorian fountain in the middle of The Plain roundabout, Oxford, could be restored as an attractive gateway to the city centre.

It is the third attempt to bring back into use the Victorian fountain, which was built in 1899 and has been dry for more than 60 years.

Plain Traders' Association member Erica Steinhauer, who runs Bead Games in Cowley Road, has been behind previous bids, the first in 1989, then again in 2003.

She said: "When we first started trying to do this there were people who actually remembered drinking from the fountain. It's at the entrance to the city and the entrance to East Oxford, it's part of our neighbourhood.

"What I'm really excited about is that we are not closing the door to having the water flowing again, and if it's only a question of money, that shouldn't be a problem."

A meeting between Mrs Steinhauer, city councillor for St Clement's Nuala Young, and representatives from the council was held on Friday to discuss the idea.

Conservation officer Nick Worledge warned there could be difficulties getting water flowing through the fountain again.

But he said improvements could be looked at - including cleaning and restoring the stonework, providing lighting and adding more Victorian features to the former horse troughs surrounding the fountain, now used for flowers.

He said: "It's a Grade II listed building and we have got to work within the constraints of what the building offers.

"We have to understand the significance and remember that altering it to something different like a decorative fountain would actually undermine its historic interest.

"Some improvements could be made to its immediate environment as a gateway into and out of the city.

"We can look at its structure and see whether it needs repairing, a bit of a clean-up and so on, but I think there would be significant challenges to restoring it back to a drinking fountain in terms of health and highways issues."

Ms Young suggested installing zebra crossings at the roundabout to make it easier and safer for people to get to the fountain.

She added: "I am persuaded more how important it is by coming here. It's so dark and gloomy looking, it would be a lovely focus as an entrance not just towards the city centre but back towards what I think is a very vibrant area and actually really does something positive for East Oxford.

"I would love to see the fountain working again because when I take groups of French people around they can't believe we have no drinking fountains."

Conservation officers will now begin drawing up a costed scheme of how much initial work on the fountain could cost.

Officers will also be contacting Oxfordshire County Council's highways department about the possibility of putting in zebra crossings.