The Oxford Preservation Trust has agreed to help pay for repairs to the Martyrs' Memorial. The work is expected to be complete by June.

Members of the city council's executive board agreed yesterday that conservation officer Nick Worlledge could bring in contractors to carry out repairs.

The statues on the memorial, its steps and other stonework need careful repair, and a £140,000 project will begin once contractors are given a schedule.

The council is providing £53,000, and the board heard that the Oxford Preservation Trust was to sign a deed agreeing to pay the remaining costs.

Cllr John Goddard, executive member for planning, said: "This is excellent news and a good example of partnership in the city. In some respects, the Oxford Preservation Trust is better resourced than the city council."

A spokesman for the trust said: "We have agreed to underwrite the remaining costs."

Restoring the memorial has been chosen as the trust's 75th anniversary project, and the organisation will try to raise public funds to cover costs.

The memorial in St Giles needs urgent repairs and has been boarded up to make sure that crumbling masonry does not fall on passers-by.