WE in Oxford Pedestrians’ Association (OxPA) wish to add our voice to the many tributes paid to Paul Cullen, who chaired our organisation from 2000-2010.

With his background in traffic consultancy, Paul was able to hold all road users in mind while championing the rights and needs of the humble pedestrian.

He brought to OxPA a breadth of vision which kept us linked in to national initiatives and brought them to life in Oxford, while retaining a capacity to zoom into the smallest details of schemes and see how they would (or would not) work for walkers in practical terms.

He campaigned against pavement parking without attracting the ire of motorists, because he treated everyone with dignity, warmth and respect.

Paul is known as a prime mover behind the ‘Life Begins at 20’ and the ‘20 is Plenty’ campaigns, which resulted ultimately in 20mph limits on most of Oxford’s streets.

He was a champion of the ‘shared space’ idea, seeing clearly that when roads are taken over by motorised vehicles it is easy for groups of marginalised vulnerable road users to waste energy sniping, when they could work more effectively together.

Paul very strongly believed that pedestrians and cyclists can share space (such as in New Inn Hall Street and Queen Street) without risk to either group, so long as people remain aware of one another, and motorised traffic is removed.

He edited OxPA’s newsletter for the last three years of his chairmanship, using it as a forum for the thing he did so well – bringing groups and initiatives together; national, local, government and grass-roots.

Paul’s was the voice of calm and reason in contributing to meetings at his home with coffee and croissants, when planning the months ahead, and with officers and representatives of other organisations.

His dry wit, wisdom and warmth are irreplaceable and terribly missed.

Sushila Dhall, Chairman, Oxford Pedestrians’ Association