ONCE pupils go back to school, the amount of traffic increases on Oxford’s roads and inevitably there are calls for council bosses to tackle congestion.

The county council’s attempts to improve the road network is well under way, with schemes at the Kennington roundabout and Frideswide Square.

There will be improvements in the long-term, but for the time being drivers face frustration on their journey to and from the office.

This, and the total numbe of fines, has prompted a call for the High Street bus gate restriction to be reviewed – a demand that the county council appears to have dismissed.

The council says the restriction was installed not for profit but to cut congestion and therefore it will not consider a re-think.

In times of crisis, including during heavy flooding, there will be calls for the High Street to be reopened and businesses in the area are frequently caught out by the restriction. But the county council is sticking to its guns, with deputy leader Rodney Rose insisting the scheme is working and achieving its congestion-cutting aims.

As the council invests the proceeds of fines in improvement schemes it would be wrong to accuse the local authority of deliberately targeting drivers to make a profit.

However, the number of improvement schemes for Oxford is stacking up and some are bound to overrun. With the new Westgate shopping centre being planned, it would be wrong to rule out a review.