A NEW effort is being made to breathe life back into a scheme to revitalise Broad Street in Oxford.

Proposals to rejuvenate the historic street were raised more than three years ago, but hopes of pressing ahead with proposals for a new public square in front of the Clarendon Building, overlooked by a terraced cafe at the New Bodleian Library, stalled.

Proposals to upgrade the Broad were complicated by the failure of the Bodleian Library’s plans to create a book depository in Osney Mead.

Oxford University said its plans to refurbish the New Bodleian, the centrepiece of the Broad Street scheme, was dependent on it being able to find a new home for millions of its books.

This week, Debbie Dance, director of Oxford Preservation Trust, met Richard Ovenden, associate director of the Bodleian Library, and the leading urban designer Kim Wilkie, who three years ago produced a study showing how Broad Street could be re-established as one of Europe’s great thoroughways.

All parties backed a £35,0000 study by Ms Wilkie, who previously produced plans for Hyde Park Corner in London.