RESIDENTS in Northway protested today against the building of a junction from the A40 into their estate which would link it up with Barton Park.

About 30 people gathered at the site of the development works in Foxwell Drive and claimed building the junction into Northway would create "great danger" to children who play in the area.

They also held up placards to drivers heading down the A40 and demanded work should stop.

Mark Bhagwandin, chairman of the Oxford east conservative association, said people in Northway were not against the building of homes on the other side of the A40, but that they had "serious concerns" about road being constructed as part of development.

Work on the junction has already begun, which has seen fencing and a green area along Foxwell Drive removed, as well as several trees and shrubs.

He added: "There is huge safety issues by putting in a junction here and opening up the barriers and taking out the trees.

"There are homes here where children play on the grass and now there is a road in which there have been many accidents on and some have ended in fatalities.

"It is necessary for the city council to build Barton Park, but it is not necessary for a link road to be build off the A40 through the Northway estate."

The Barton Park development will see 885 homes be built on land west of Barton, a 315-place school and a community hub from June next year.

The Barton LLP, a partnership between Oxford City Council and Grosvenor, hope building the junction on the both sides of the A40 would reduce traffic speeds.

Buses and emergency service vehicles will be the only have permission to use the link road, and a system is expected to be in place to prevent cars from using it as a rat-run.

But residents argue having a junction would mean children playing outside their homes could stray onto the road.

Mother-of-three Emrelana Kola, who lives in Foxwell Drive, said: "My children often play out in the park down the road and outside my house where know they are safe and I can keep watching them.

"By taking down the fence and putting a road it it's taken away the green where they play and it's now unsafe.

"There is no need for the road. The noise has got worse as well."