A third site is being considered for Thame's new library.

Oxfordshire County Council has had two abortive attempts to find a suitable site in the past.

Now it is looking at a joint effort with Rycotewood College on the edge of the town.

But whatever the council decides, it has no funds to press ahead in the immediate future.

The situation has left Thame's county councillor Diana Ludlow frustrated.

She said: "We have been trying for years to get Thame a decent library and it seems no closer to being a reality.

"The money earmarked for Thame has been rerouted over several years and, with the current refurbishment of the central library in Oxford, there is little chance of it being available,

"It is very frustrating."

She said Rycotewood College heads had approached the county council to see if a library for use by the college and the public could be built at the site in Oxford Road.

The county's cultural services committee has approved discussions.

Nearly ten years ago the county decided it must replace the existing library in Southern Road, built in the 1950s when Thame's population was half its current level. It spent three years negotiating to lease a house in High Street from the Springell Trust, but then decided it wanted somewhere freehold.

Five years ago it bought the former cinema and toy shop in North Street.

As it could not afford the £1,037,000 needed to convert the building, it allowed the former owners, the Pied Pedaller toy shop, to stay on.

County librarian Andrew Coggins said discussions with Rycotewood were at a very early stage, and there would be public consultation before any decision was made.

He commented: "We will get a library for Thame - it needs one. But these things take time."

The county would sell the North Street and Southern Road sites to fund the Rycotewood development.