The Government has ruled out giving Oxford a second chance to become a unitary authority.

Local Government Minister Phil Woolas, in an interview with the Oxford Mail, said there were "no plans" to ask the city to make a second formal bid to run all the services instead of some being controlled by the county council.

It follows the minister's decision to reject the city council's bid to scrap the county's two tier-system and replace it with three unitary authorities.

Mr Woolas confirmed Oxford had failed in its bid because its plans would have been too expensive.

He hinted that had the city council proposed a more modest scheme - making the city unitary but keeping the rest of the county as it was - it might have been successful.

Mr Woolas said: "Why didn't Oxford get the go ahead? Simply because Oxford put in a proposal to split the county into three unitary authorities.

"Creating three unitary authorities is three times as expensive, other things being equal, as creating one. So it was on those grounds."

Asked if the council would be given another chance to put in a different bid he said: "There are no plans to reopen the window. My own view is it's very unlikely it will reopen."

Mr Woolas admitted he would be willing to consider giving other areas across the country whose bids had failed, such as Lancashire, another bite at the cherry.