A MAJOR clean-up is under way to smarten up Oxford’s Gloucester Green bus station.

Owner NewRiver Retail is working with the city council to spruce up the bus station forecourt and clean up the square outside the Old School House.

NewRiver Retail is replacing damaged plant boxes in Gloucester Green and will install flower displays in the square.

The four-week scheme, now under way, is being carried out as part of work to replace waterproofing materials in the underground Gloucester Green car park.

The firm has also proposed moving rubbish containers that a councillor branded an “eyesore”, and putting in bollards to stop cars parking there.

Gloucester Green centre manager Paul Bentham said: “This area has historically been neglected but we are trying to do little bits of work in the short term to make it a bit nicer.

“The square is an entrance to Oxford for many visitors and at the moment is not much to look at.

“But its potential to be transformed is phenomenal.”

For the waterproofing, council workers will dig up paving between the bus station and The Old School House.

Mr Bentham added: “Usually with these kinds of things, you get the water company digging it up one week and then putting it back, then the next week the electric company doing the same thing again.

“We hope carrying it out in cooperation with the city council will make it more seamless.”

Carfax city councillor Alex Hollingsworth said: “The square outside the Old School is a real mess, and it’s both a well-used route to the city centre for local people, and one of the first things visitors see.

“The dead and dying trees, the rubbish bins and the growing problem of cars parked here have turned what could be a nice space into an eyesore.

“I’m delighted the need to replace the waterproofing for the car park has created an opportunity to make big improvements.”

NewRiver Retail bought Gloucester Green in 2013 and has told the city council it has ambitions to revamp the area at a cost of £6m.

As reported in the Oxford Mail, the firm has drawn up ideas for the main square, where markets are held on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s, and for the George Street cinema to be redeveloped. Mr Bentham said discussions with the council were ongoing, with formal plans still “years away”.

Meanwhile the firm has submitted plans to turn two shops in the north-west corner into a restaurant.

The changes were required to build the “critical mass necessary” to attract people to Gloucester Green, the firm said in documents submitted to the city council in September.

A restaurant chain is understood to have expressed interest but no deal has yet been agreed.