A £3,000 facelift being planned for Oxford's quarter-boys is likely to take place next year.

Every day, for more than 400 years, the little figures adorning the clock on Carfax Tower have struck the quarters of each passing hour.

But the bell-ringers, known as 'jacks', have not been renovated for at least 15 years and their blue, scarlet and gold paintwork needs restoring.

The figures are popular with tourists who make a special trip to Carfax to see if they can catch the quarter-boys on camera when they strike the bells with their hammers.

John Bellinger, the city council's manager of built environment, said £3,000 was being earmarked on a provisional basis from April 2005.

He said: "We would have liked to have found the money this year but unfortunately the budget did not stretch that far.

"When the work is carried out we will need to put up some scaffolding."

Oxford Preservation Trust paid for the clock and the figures to be floodlit in 1999.

Secretary Debbie Dance said: "I know the quarter-boys are very popular, especially with visitors to the city.

"If the council could at least provide some money our trustees might be able to make a contribution, and the work could be done sooner."