WIDER cycle lanes, improved road layouts and a shake-up of key junctions have been proposed to make a busy part of Oxford more cycle-friendly.

Oxfordshire County Council wants to make roads around St Clement’s, Magdalen Bridge and the top of Cowley Road safer for cyclists.

The ideas are part of phase two of the ‘cycle city’ work planned for the area, the first phase being a £965,000 project to update The Plain roundabout which was revealed in the Oxford Mail on Monday. The second phase includes plans for ‘hybrid’ cycle lanes, which are wider than normal lanes and allow cyclists to go both ways, and proposals to replace the traffic lights at the junction of Morrell Avenue and London Place with mini roundabouts.

It has not yet been designed in detail, and the council has admitted it does not yet know how much the work will cost.

Concerns have been raised that congestion could be caused by the reduction in the number of lanes for cars approaching the city.

Taxi driver Colin Dobson, 46, said he was worried about plans to narrow the road, especially at the junction of Morrell Avenue and London Place.

He said: “I’m all in favour of measures to make this junction safer for cyclists, because it is a dangerous junction and cyclists do have to pull out into the main traffic stream.

“But undoubtedly, any kind of scheme that narrows the roads is going to increase congestion.”

On Monday, the Government confirmed it had approved funding of £835,000 for the first phase of the scheme – with the council providing an additional £130,000 – and the second phase is expected to start in 2015.

At the eastern end of the High Street and over Magdalen Bridge, hybrid cycle lanes could be installed, and the council is considering removing the pedestrian island near the junction of Longwall Street.

The council has also suggested that the traffic signals at the junction of Morrell Avenue and London Place are removed and replaced with mini-roundabouts, with cycle lanes replacing one lane of traffic in each direction.

It also wants to remove the left turn lane from St Clement’s Street into Rectory Road to create an uninterrupted cycle lane.

The plans have sparked a mixed response. They have been welcomed by cyclist action group Cyclox, but Green councillors say they don’t go far enough.

Green councillor David Williams said: “It’s a very crowded situation, and a difficult one in terms of design.

“What we have been suggesting is separate cycle ways like they have in Belgium and Holland, similar to what is in place on Donnington Bridge, although that is the other extreme because it has a physical barrier between the cycle way and the road.”

Cyclox spokesman Richard Mann said: “I think the context of this is that the council, in order to qualify for the funding for The Plain, had to provide evidence that it was part of a wider scheme and that there was local money available.

“We’re certainly supportive of the idea of widening the scheme out, and we will be working closely with the council on its detailed plans.”