Measures to rid Oxford city centre of traffic are being put off for nearly two months.

Preparing the city for the £20m Oxford Transport Strategy is taking longer than expected.

Engineers have scrapped the April 6 'D-day' for changes to traffic access and replaced it with a new deadline - May 31.

The eight-week delay will give contractors more time to re-align road junctions, create bus lanes and install new traffic calming measures in the city centre.

Keith Welham, chief engineer for Oxfordshire County Council, said: "It is disappointing, but on the other hand it gives us the chance to complete all the roadworks in the city centre and tidy up.

"There were always going to be roadworks in the city centre until the end of May but we had hoped to bring in the changes before that date.

"Now it has been decided it would be safer to transfer traffic near the end."

The central measures of Oxford Transport Strategy include banning buses from Cornmarket Street and closing High Street to through traffic. The main delay has been caused by protests which slowed down the dismantling of the grade II* London Midland Scottish (LMS) building, in Park End Street, which stands in the way of a major new junction.

The former Victorian station, which is being transferred piece by piece to a museum in Buckinghamshire, is not expected to have been removed until early April.

Delayed Thames Water mains repairs are also proving a headache for engineers.

Mr Welham added that the May Bank Holiday deadline would allow the changes to be introduced during a school holiday when there is less peak time traffic on the roads.

Story date: Wednesday 24 February

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