NEIGHBOURS in Headington say they were never consulted on transport improvements taking place on their roads.

Oxfordshire County Council started a £450,000 scheme to improve road conditions for pedestrians and cyclists last week.

Old Road and parts of The Slade are currently closed as work gets under way.

But some people living in the area have said they never wanted the improvements and were never consulted.

Resident Jane Alexander said: “I have spoken with many of the people who live next to the junction and they have not been consulted.

“Many, like me, have not even had the letter which was delivered to a few households just five days ago.

“If we had been consulted we would have said that we did not agree with these plans to reduce road width.”

Over the coming months, a cycle lane will be added to the south side of Old Road between the junction of Gipsy Lane and Windmill Road.

Pavement cycle lanes will be added on Old Road near the junction with Windmill Road, where three pedestrian crossings over the roundabout will be installed.

A zebra crossing will be built by Old Road’s junction with Stapleton Road and the centre line road markings will be removed from Old Road in an effort to slow down cars.

The road will be raised at nine junctions including the junction of Lime Walk and Old Road.

Ms Alexander said: “Reducing road width here will only increase congestion and therefore exhaust fumes which affect all of us.

“Traffic has to wait for one car to turn right while the majority want to turn left. This will also unsafely squeeze cyclists off the road.

“Those of us who saw the notice of imminent roadworks thought it was repairing potholes.

“We had been told there was no money for repairing potholes, yet there seems to be thousands being spent on this work. ”

County council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: “This scheme is part of a wider transport strategy for the city that aims to encourage people to travel less by car so as to reduce congestion, delays and pollution.

“We consulted on it in a number of ways. The design of the project was developed with assistance from local stakeholders such as pedestrian and cycling groups, employers, residents’ associations and local councillors.

“The design was published on the county council’s website and residents living immediately adjacent to certain elements of the scheme were consulted by letter.

“Directly consulting large numbers of residents across a wide area can be extremely expensive for local authorities, who have to therefore make a decision about whether particular schemes are big enough to warrant large-scale consultations.

“We felt in this case that consultation with residents’ representatives was sufficient. However, we understand that some people on this occasion have been unhappy with this approach. We will take the feedback we have received on this into account for future projects.”