OXFORDSHIRE'S speed cameras may be back on by April as details emerged today of the deal being put in place by police.

The camera sites - both the fixed and those where mobile vans park up - were decommissioned on August 1 after Oxfordshire County Council withdrew funding for the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership, the organisation which controls speed enforcement in the region.

Last month the Oxford Mail revealed that police and the county council were negotiating a deal that would see the cameras brought back into service, although no timeframe was put on it.

Now a report from a council in Berkshire indicates that the structure being put in place would see Thames Valley Police taking over the cost and running of the cameras, funding it through fees from motorists sent on speed awareness courses.

The report to Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council's cabinet said: "This model is currently being developed and will enable the police to recover all of their costs from offenders."

It also set the date for re-activation as April 1.

Oxfordshire County Council would only be responsible for maintaining the fixed camera sites.

The report added: "Irrespective of the views on casualty reduction, there is a general concensus that speed caemras do have a deterrent effect on speeding and that their removal would lead to an increase in vehicle speeds.

"Early results from Oxfordshire show that increases in the number of speeding offences of up to 400 per cent have been recorded at de-commissioned camera sites."

Oxfordshire County Council withdrew its funding to Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership because of Government cuts.