A BRIDGE for cyclists that passes a busy junction in North Oxford could be built with cash from developers of a proposed business park.

The proposal has been discussed after city cycling group Cyclox said planned improvements to Wolvercote Roundabout did not go far enough.

Vice-chairman Dr Alison Hill said the introduction of traffic lights would still not persuade most parents to let their children ride through it.

She made her comments at the examination of the Northern Gateway business park scheme, which resumes again tomorrow.

Planning inspector Christine Newmarch is scrutinising plans which could see up to 500 homes, a 90,000 sqm employment area and a hotel built on land bordered by the A40, A34 and A44.


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As part of work to prepare the road network for extra traffic, Oxfordshire County Council will improve Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts at a cost of £9m.

The work will also see light-controlled crossings installed to make getting through the junction safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

But Dr Hill said many riders would still be intimidated. She told the inquiry on Thursday: “We have got to think about alternative ways to get cyclists off these major routes.

“How is a 10-year-old going to cross this junction? That is not something a parent is going to allow.”

She said that “grade-separation” – which would route cyclists through an underpass or over a bridge – should be considered instead of crossings.

Dr Hill cited as a good example the bridge over the A40 just east of Cutteslowe Roundabout, which links Holt Weer Close with Wren Road avoiding the danger of crossing the busy dual carriageway.

In response to her comments, county council officer Daniel Round said the authority would consider a bridge when developers submitted plans for buildings at the Northern Gateway. The construction could be funded by developer contributions.

Mr Round told Dr Hill: “Cycle bridges and tunnels will be considered when we get further into the planning process. We will be working with developers to look at those other measures, but the roundabout improvements are a good first step.”

Work to overhaul Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts is expected to begin in June.

County council cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith is set to give the scheme final approval at a County Hall meeting at 10am on Thursday.

If approved it will see traffic lights at both junctions and their approaches widened.

Cutteslowe was to have become a “hamburger” junction, with a road cutting through its centre.

Crossings for cyclists and pedestrians at both junctions would have been across a series of islands. But these features were scrapped in January after complaints it would take too long to cross them.

The council later moved the crossings to the edges of the roundabouts and said the arrangements would be safer.