Commuters parking dangerously on narrow village roads will only be taken seriously once there is an accident, Radley residents have warned.

Villagers have been complaining about Radley railway station passengers parking in village roads since December, after First Great Western (FGW) started charging £3 a day to use the car park.

Last year Oxfordshire County Council said it would consult with villagers on a parking restrictions, which could be implemented in the spring.

But five months on, residents have been told nothing and Radley Parish Council has now made a formal complaint to the county council about the delay.

Village resident Bob Earl said: “Sadly nothing positive has happened and, despite promises and assurances from FGW and the county council, consultation deadlines have come and gone.

“The village continues to be blighted daily with cars parked dangerously and inconveniently on the village roads while the car park remains less than half full.”

FGW spent £165,000 of Department for Transport cash extending the car park at the railway station last year by 30 spaces, doubling its capacity. But the funding was conditional on car park charges being introduced.

Villagers then complained to FGW that the charge pushed up to 20 commuters every day on to narrow roads outside the station. A campaign group, Stop Clogging Radley with Parking, was started, calling on FGW to scrap its charges.

Lower Radley resident Graham Steinsberg said: “The frustration from the inertia is inevitable. It will become a serious problem once there is an accident.”

Radley Parish Council clerk Jane Dymock emailed the then OCC’s cabinet member for transport Rodney Rose: “The initial date for the public consultation in March was later amended to April and despite repeated assurances that it was imminent, nothing has yet been received.”

The county council would not comment to the Oxford Mail. FGW also declined to comment.

 

 

 

 

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