Wallingford is lagging behind Abingdon and Henley in providing tourists with moorings on the River Thames.

The news that planned new moorings at Wallingford might not be ready in time for next summer was described as a "disaster" for the town.

Six new moorings were due to be built at a cost of about £200,000 by South Oxfordshire District Council.

Deputy mayor Dee Cripps said the delay could dent tourism and added: "We are running a very poor third behind Henley and Abingdon when it comes to mooring places."

Ms Cripps, who is also chairman of the town council's tourism committee, said: "These new moorings are vital for the town.

"We have been trying to get them for at least five years and we were promised they would be in place for summer 2009.

"Now that is looking less and less likely — and that is a disaster for Wallingford and our hopes of attracting more and more tourists."

Ms Cripps said tourists visiting by boat came into the town to see Wallingford's museum, theatre and the Cholsey and Wallingford Heritage Railway — and spent money in shops and restaurants.

She said: "They usually bring their cycles on their boats, so we have leaflets advertising things like the Pendon Museum at Long Wittenham, Wittenham Clumps, the donkey sanctuary at Brightwell-cum-Sotwell and the lovely countryside they can ride in.

"It is all part of a big scheme to get Wallingford as a bigger tourist centre.

"But we can't do that on the small number of moorings we have at the moment.

"We can moor half-a-dozen boats or so on the Wallingford side of the river and we hoped to moor another seven or so on the Crowmarsh side, along with the facilities for emptying their chemical lavatories and taking on water."

The town council was told that the extra moorings on the Thames on the Crowmarsh side of the river had been the subject of an Environment Agency report which declared the bank too weak to bear new moorings and the water not sufficiently deep.

Town council member Pat Granados said: "We suspected this when we first saw plans for moorings five years ago and we suggested then that pontoons going out into the river might be the answer.

"So five years on, we are no further forward."

Fellow councillor Theresa Jordan said: "It looks extremely unlikely we will get these new moorings and that is a very great pity."

The district council's strategic property officer, Graham Hawkins, said: "The money is still there to be used. We have had a few problems and some more work needs to be done with our consultants, and we may have to look at different options, like a pontoon for the moorings."

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "The Agency continues to work with South Oxon to look at suitable options to stabilise the banks and construct the moorings."