First steps for Cornmarket probe

Work on Oxford's Cornmarket was to have cost £2.7m

The first steps of a public inquiry into a controversial city revamp that cost taxpayers twice the original price tag were being taken on Thursday.

Councillors probing Oxford's Cornmarket Street repaving scheme - which ended up costing £5.1m - have been asked to meet the inquiry's independent chairman.

Rex Knight, vice-chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, wants the meeting to set the scope of the inquiry.

County councillor John Power hopes the inquiry will not be a whitewash.

Ground rules

The Labour councillor for Oxford West, who is a member of the joint inquiry team being set up with Oxford City Council, also said he was concerned that the first meeting was being held in private.

He told BBC News Online: "If it is only about fixing the dates and times of meetings then why should it be in private?"

He added that someone should be held responsible for the scheme's blunders.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council confirmed that the inquiry remained independent and would be held in public.

"That was the whole idea in the first place. Thursday's meeting will just set the ground rules," he explained.

Slab cracks

The inquiry was set up in response to calls from city and county councillors angry at the Cornmarket scheme's spiralling costs and delays.

Plans to revamp the city's main shopping street were originally launched in 1998.

Granite slabs were eventually laid but cracks appeared and the scheme had to be abandoned in favour of an asphalt surface.

The bulk of the scheme was finally completed in April but there still remains some work unfinished.