HIGHWAYS bosses are deciding whether to reverse a controversial decision to shut a junction off a busy route in Oxford.

Oxfordshire County Council will decide later this month whether the access point to the Risinghurst estate from the A40 should remain closed or not.

County councillor David Nimmo Smith, cabinet member for transport, will decide at a public meeting whether the access gap in the central reservation at the junction with Collinwood Road should remain shut to traffic.

Barbara Naylor, chairman of Risinghurst and Sandhills parish council, said: “The parish council has always maintained it wants traffic lights at the junction and the gap could then be open.

“I think it should be closed until the traffic lights are put in there and until we have some sort of crossing there for safety.”

County councillor for Headington and Quarry, Roz Smith, said: “Overwhelmingly, when I did a residents’ survey after the closure, the result was that people would like to have a proper pedestrian crossing with traffic lights.

“A lot of people felt very angry that the gap was closed without much consultation.

“It is a direct link between the children’s centre and the swimming pool in Barton, and the nearest post office for people in Barton is in Risinghurst.”

The gap was closed in May 2012 on an 18-month trial after residents raised safety concerns.

In the five years before the gap was closed there were five serious accidents and three slight injury accidents involving vehicles turning right from the A40 into Collinwood Road.

Motorists can still access Risinghurst from Kiln Lane, while drivers hoping to go from the estate towards London have to use the Green Road roundabout.

County council spokesman Martin Crabtree said officers are currently investigating whether or not they should recommend that the gap stays closed or not.

He added that a decision would be made by Mr Nimmo Smith at a public meeting on Thursday, November 21 at County Hall at 11am.