Councillors and residents are preventing a solution to traffic problems by campaigning to stop buses being routed down their street, says one Oxford resident.

The campaigners fear Osler Road is already too congested to cope with buses travelling to and from the city's John Radcliffe Hospital, and say a traffic light junction, linking Osler Road and London Road, would add to the traffic problems.

But Nicholas Newman, editor of the Headington Forum website and a resident of Ash Grove, Headington, believes the bus route will improve public transport and reduce traffic congestion.

Mr Newman, a freelance journalist, said: "Though Osler Road residents welcome the public authorities' aims to cut congestion and parking in this road, they do not seem to grasp that the introduction of buses is an essential part of this scheme to achieve such aims."

He said the campaign, launched by the city councillors for Headington, Stephen Tall and David Rundle, failed to provide a solution to the problems faced by the hospital.

He said: "Headington is the site of one of Europe's largest hospital developments. On the John Radcliffe Hospital site alone, a children's hospital and a replacement for the Radcliffe Infirmary are being built.

"The extra staff, patients and visitors have to be accommodated and the city and county councils have agreed that building more car parks is not a solution. Mr Tall must bear in mind his duty to represent the interests of Oxford as a whole and not simply the residents of one road in the city."

Mr Tall said: "If I thought an Osler Road bus link would transform traffic problems in Headington I would have no problems with it.

"What we have asked for is an Oxfordshire County Council study into the implications, because the last thing London Road needs is more traffic.

"Mr Newman has a point. Everyone knows the traffic situation is getting worse and something has to be done, but I don't think buses on Osler Road is the right solution."