We rejoiced in February when it was announced that the city and county councils were promising to spend up to £500,000 on repairing and improving a stretch of towpath.

That joy was tinged with sadness - it took the death of 15-year-old Ben Halsey-Jones, who fell into the river while cycling near Port Meadow in January to prompt the action.

The poor state of the towpaths had been raised before the tragedy, so this was no knee-jerk reaction.

But now there are claims that the plans are being watered down.

At a meeting today, councillors are unlikely to support some of the measures listed in a risk assessment report. These include widening towpaths and raising sections that flood frequently.

"They're too onerous" is one of the reasons being given for rejecting these proposals.

Others say these measures would not prevent a similar accident happening again.

However, Sid Phelps, chairman of the city council's environment scrutiny committee, is concerned that he is being "fobbed off" by those recommending rejection. Quite rightly, he wants to make sure any decisions made are in the best interests of the towpath users.

We will leave the technicalities to the experts - they are the people paid to find the best solutions to these problems.

All we ask is that the decisions make the best use of the resources available - however onerous the resulting work is.