A SCHEME to restore Oxford’s reputation as a city of waterways has been launched with work under way to transform the “gateway to Oxford Canal”.

Proposals to clean up the city’s streams, with the creation of waterside parks and wildlife corridors, form a key part of the multi-million-pound scheme to regenerate the West End of Oxford.

With key elements of the West End regeneration, such as the Westgate redevelopment, having to be put on hold because of the economic downturn, the West End Partnership and British Waterways are moving ahead with plans to clear waterway areas, now viewed as no-go areas by many people.

The first area to be tackled is a stretch of the Oxford Canal running from Hythe Bridge Street, where work will continue through to spring to transform an area widely viewed as being unsafe because of crime and diseased trees.

A Hythe Bridge ‘pocket park’ is being created, with an overgrown area behind Worcester College cleared and trees in danger of collapse removed. Improvements will also see the end of the canal being dredged, with new trees planted and street furniture replaced.

James Clifton, regeneration manager of British Waterways South, said the aim was to help rid the city of waterway areas that had become overgrown, dark and secluded.

He said: “Once the Hythe Bride pocket park improvement works are complete, the canal will be much more visible from the road, encouraging people to use this glorious stretch of waterway.”

An Oxford City Canal Partnership has now been created to improve the canal and instigate further improvements. It will be made up of local council and British Waterways representatives, tourist officials, boaters and agencies involved in the West End regeneration.

Bob Price, leader of Oxford City Council, said the aim would be to make the city’s main waterways more accessible.

He said: “These improvement works will make the Hythe Bridge pocket park a welcoming and attractive place in which to spend time, furthering the aims of the Oxford West End renaissance.”

Councillor Keith Mitchell, leader of Oxfordshire County Council, said: “By improving Oxford’s gateway to the canal, people will be able to explore the area anew and will hopefully go on to discover the rest of Oxfordshire’s picturesque waterways.”

The work at Hythe Bridge Street From front page Street, costing £25,0000, will continue until the spring.

But work will later centre on Castle Mill Stream, transforming it into a stream-side park, offering a wildlife corridor, informal recreation and a new route through the ‘western quarter’ of the city.

The Castle Mill Stream, which runs under Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street, is at present largely hidden.

The West End Area Action Plan says: “At present there is relatively little publicly accessible green open space in the West End.

“The main existing spaces include a narrow strip of land alongside Castle Mill Stream, Oxpens Field and several treed areas.”

There are also plans to create a wetland nature area along the Thames, which forms the southern boundary of the West End, at Oxpens Fields.

While treelined, the West End partners say that the area is under-used, offering an opportunity to improve access to the Thames. There are plans to create a new Thames frontage, possibly with a new bridge between Oxpens Field and Osney Mead.

But proposals for Oxpens Field have been complicated by residents launching their bid to have it designated as a town green, which would protect it from ever being developed. Half of the meadow, roughly the size of a football pitch, has been earmarked for development under the city's West End scheme.