A CONTROVERSIAL junction closure in north east Oxford is set to remain in place permanently. Traffic officers now recommend that the access point to the Risinghurst estate from the A40 should remain closed. After calls for traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing across the A40 at Risinghurst, the council is set to carry out a review into whether these measures can be put in.

Barton resident Terry Roper, who has campaigned for a pedestrian crossing at the junction, said he welcomed the review.

He said: “Along with others I have been campaigning for a crossing for some time and I am glad to see that at last somebody on the council is listening to what local people want.

“People from Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst are using the facilities like the pool but it is dangerous to cross. Thank God nobody has been killed there.

“The problem is the speed the traffic goes at.”

Mahesh Gandhi, who runs the post office in Risinghurst, said: “The whole community wants it reopened with traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing.

“If they block the gap it will divide the community and create a Barton community and a Risinghurst community.”

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.

In a report to cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith, council officer Martin Kemp recommends keeping the closure.

He says: “The introduction of the experimental traffic regulation order has been successful in reducing accidents at this location and does have local support.

“However, local businesses and some residents have objected to the order due to the effect on trade and the increase in delays and journey length for those wishing to access the Risinghurst area.

“In addition, many respondents have raised the need for traffic signals to assist pedestrians wishing to cross the A40 and/or drivers wishing to turn right at the junction.”

He goes on to say that a review should be carried out into the traffic management measures on that stretch of road – including the introduction of a pedestrian crossing.

The temporary barriers will remain in place until the review is completed.

But Headington county councillor Roz Smith, who also sits on Risinghurst and Sandhills parish council, said: “For me I think this is a missed opportunity.

“This would have been an opportunity to move the lights back from where they are at the moment at the roundabout to the Collinwood Road junction which some people have suggested.”

A final decision will be made by Mr Nimmo Smith at a public meeting next Thursday at 10.30am in County Hall.

TIMELINE
 

  • May 2012 – Oxfordshire County Council closes the gap in the A40
  • June 2012 – Businesses in Risinghurst claim the closure of the gap has affected their trade
  • July 2012 – County councillor Rodney Rose, the then cabinet member for transport, meets with Risinghurst residents to discuss the plan
  • August 2013 – City councillor Laurence Baxter demands answers on what is happening with the junction after Risinghurst residents tell him they want the gap reopened