A £3M scheme to improve Oxford’s High Street risks transforming Oxford’s historic spine into “a mediocre” public space, a new study has warned.

The report commissioned by traders and colleges based in High Street offers a damning verdict on Oxfordshire County Council’s proposals for the iconic street, with work due to start this summer.

County Hall has been told it risks wasting an opportunity to deliver what “this nationally significant street so desperately needs.”

The report recommends moving kerb lines, the widening of pavements and the use of high-quality paving materials to create more space for pedestrians.

The report by urban designers Alan Baxter Associates was commissioned by High Priority, a group formed last year to counter “the systematic vandalism” of High Street.

The campaign group is also pressing for a reduction in the 2,500 buses travelling along High Street every day, which it says creates intolerable disturbance and pollution.

The report, called Oxford High Street: The Unique Opportunity, says: “The bold changes for other streets in central Oxford that are currently proposed, including the widespread pedestrianisation and surface improvement, demonstrate the need for a visionary re-imagining of the High Street.

“Major resurfacing of the street will not be carried out for at least another 30 years, so not reviewing the wider design issues now would be truly a lost opportunity.

“The consequences would be a street with a mediocre public realm for many years to come.”

High Priority spokesman Graham Jones said: “A large sum of local taxpayers money is to be expended on a project that preserves the highly unsatisfactory status quo.

“I hope the council will pay attention to the report by Alan Baxter.”