Sir – Your front page: “Work starts on changing city’s centre” (June 11) was interesting because we are told the High Street isn’t changing, but merely being repaired.

Councillor Hudspeth has explained clearly and at great length how inadequate the measures will be for cycling and Mr Howell is quoted: “We will be making some targeted alterations to benefit pedestrians and cyclists”.

On the county website he continues: “You only have to look at the quality of the road surface on the already completed sections of the High between Carfax and Turl Street and Longwall and The Plain to see what a high standard we will be delivering . . .”

My question is, are either of these people capable of understanding that the routes of the city are used by people?

That the surface is a means to an end? That their responsibility is to the users, their convenience, the economy and the quality of the historic environment, the street is a living space.

I see no such attention and as for targeted improvements, the statistics the county produce suggest that the one consequence of the High Street work is likely to be an increase in incidents involving buses and cycling and possibly pedestrians.

The county and its agents maintain entirely questionable beliefs about accident records and consistently come to incorrect conclusions about risk where it occurs and how.

There is one whisper of positive, if temporary, advantage during the roadworks, cyclists are promised:

  • No ‘dismount’ signs
  • No temporary ironwork projections prior to final resurfacing
  • An intention that temporary signs will not form an obstruction
  • Consideration of temporary advanced stop lines
  • And avoidance of a ‘critical width’ of the travel lane where drivers are given inadequate width to overtake safely.

There is still a little time to change this flawed, dangerous and anti-social design for the High.

Graham Smith, Urban design consultant, Oxford