The landmark Victorian fountain in the middle of The Plain roundabout is closer to springing back to life.

Plans to restore the water to the fountain will be discussed next month.

It is the third attempt to bring the fountain, which was built in 1899 and has been dry for more than 60 years, back into use.

Oxford City Council's east area parliament has got behind plans to revamp the fountain, which is a Grade 2 listed building, and asked for a report on how to restore it as an attractive gateway to the city. It will be discussed at the committee's September meeting.

East area coordinator Fergus Lapage said: "We are assembling costs for a phased approach.

"We are looking at phase one works including cleaning the stone, repairing the clock fascia and the weather vane and maybe cleaning the slates on the roof."

He said the figures were currently being pulled together and would be presented to councillors at the next meeting.

The roads around The Plain are currently undergoing substantial repairs and as part of that, Oxfordshire County Council has agreed to repave the area around the fountain with York paving stone, which Mr Lapage said would be more attractive than what is currently there.

Mr Lapage said the second phase of the works included considering the possibility of bringing water back into the fountain - but he said this was far more complicated and costly. He said: "If we are going to go down the road of putting water back into the fountain it generates a number of concerns.

"This includes health and safety, in terms of both people going across that busy junction, and also the fact that the quality of the water would have to be very high."

He said additional sources of funding from outside the council would almost certainly need to be sought for it to become a reality. But Erica Steinhauer, who is a member of the Plain Traders Association and was behind two previous bids to restore the historic fountain in 1989 and 2003, was confident that with the support of the community, the water would be flowing again in the not too distant future.

She said: "I am really pleased with where it is going. I am hoping that as a result of the community-based efforts and energies coming out of the Dawson Street garden that putting water into the fountain can be part of a community-based fundraising project."

Nuala Young, chairman of the east area parliament, said, when the project was launched in April, that the fountain could become a focus as an entrance both to the city centre and into east Oxford.