Almost 200 new bus shelters are to be built across the city - painted Oxford Blue.

Oxford City Council and Adshel are thrashing out the terms of a new contract which, if agreed, would see 180 new shelters spring up to replace the existing structures.

The majority of them would be advertising shelters with companies paying for posters of their products or events to be displayed in large glass screens.

The agreement would effectively mean the city's bus shelters become privatised, with Adshel paying for the shelters to be installed, maintained and repaired.

It would cost the Town Hall nothing.

Some bus shelters in Oxford are owned and maintained by the city council, while others are already run by Adshel.

The new agreement would bring them together for the first time and the initial phase of shelters has been promised in Blackbird Leys.

The current sticking point is exactly where the 110 advertising shelters would go.

Adshel want them in prime city centre locations, but city planners have to treat some areas of Oxford sensitively.

City councillor Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, said: "The contract we have at the moment is not doing enough, we want an improved deal and negotiations are not yet complete.

"We hope to be able to come to a satisfactory arrangement, but the problem is that they have not yet got planning permission.

"It's a free deal - it would not cost the city council anything.

"The idea is to get the whole lot handed over, but there are a number of things that are not yet decided.

"It's fairly clear that if we are going to get this deal, advertising in a number of shelters is something people will have to live with.

"By the end of this calendar year we should see some new bus shelters appearing on the street.

"And Blackbird Leys is at the front of the queue because people there have been asking for this for a while."

The city council receives scores of complaints and comments about bus shelters that are old, vandalised and in a poor state of repair.

Carmel Ryan, of Balfour Road in Blackbird Leys, regularly catches the No 5 bus from a shelter in her road to take her children into town.

She said: "We are very honoured to be first.

"Our bus shelter has got graffiti on and if it is windy you have got no chance - there is no proper cover.

"There was a bus shelter outside the Blackbird pub, but because it was made of Perspex it got smashed in."

Ms Ryan added: "It will be weird seeing brightly coloured bus shelters for a change.

"I like the idea of Oxford Blue - it is almost like going back to the old Oxford United colours of blue and yellow.

"We have always had boring green bus stops but to have blue bus stops will be almost like coming to a new town."