Oxford's bus station is crumbling just 11 years after being built, write Mark Templeton and Andrew Ffrench.

Emergency repairs are to force its closure, with traffic chaos predicted for the city centre.

An estimated 90,000 is to be spent on the Gloucester Green station. Heavy three-axle buses may be to blame for weakening the surface and it is feared that further damage caused by any delays could threaten the roof of the underground car park below. The problem has worsened in recent months, forcing city council bosses to recommend a resurfacing programme should be carried out immediately to prevent further erosion.

Lord Mayor Maureen Christian said: "This is a disaster. If the bus station closes, it will have a major effect on Oxford. God knows where they are going to put the buses in the meantime.

"I suppose we may have to look at some sort of emergency parking area at Oxpens." The original surface was laid in the late 1980s and has not suffered from difficulties before.

But the concrete blocks which make up the surface have now started to slide sideways.

Bus services will face major disruption when the work begins. An alternative area for a bus station is now being sought by council officers.

The Oxford Bus Company has more than 100 departures a day from Gloucester Green. Stagecoach's Oxford Tube service, which runs between Oxford and London, has 88. Oxford Bus Company spokesman Jonathan Radley said: "We already pay departure charges for the use of the station, so we will not be looking to make any contribution to the cost of repairs.

"There needs to be very careful thought about the site of an alternative venue to minimise disruption."

Stagecoach spokesman David Whitley added that in addition to the Oxford Tube, services to Bicester, Woodstock and Chipping Norton also used the bus station. Experts have pointed to a number of reasons why the area has started to deteriorate, including the recent introduction of heavier buses, the original sand used to bed the concrete blocks being unsuitable when it is wet, and oil leaking from buses.

A report to Thursday's highways committee by director of community services, Isobel Garner, says: "Emergency patching has been carried out to make good areas which had become hazardous to pedestrians. "While carrying out these repairs, it was discovered that the waterproofing membrane over the concrete roof of the underground car park was in a poor condition and will have to be replaced in the near future.

The repairs carried out to date are of a temporary nature and, if left, the surface will continue to deteriorate.

"The work is likely to require the temporary closure of the whole of the bus station, or at the very least, substantial parts of it."

Councillors are expected to approve the repair work.