I SEE that Michael Crofton-Briggs is to retire and some might say not before time because he oversaw some of the worst decisions that Oxford City Council has made.

Perhaps we shouldn’t put the blame directly on him but on his bosses, because that is where the buck stops.

We already know about the Castle Mill student flats and the Westgate Shopping Centre mistakes, plus the attempt to build on car parks. But perhaps by far the worst decisions, which will blight Oxford long into the future, is building along the A40 and, in particular, west of Barton.

It was known in the 1950s that Barton should not have been built because it was on the wrong side of a major trunk road and likely to cause traffic problems. Nothing was done to implement the suggestions that were made at that time and we now suffer the consequences.

North and east of Oxford suffer serious traffic problems and there seems to be little that can be done about it, so all the extra traffic generated in west Barton will inevitably add to the problem.

I did see that there was a suggestion that some of the traffic could pass through Northway, but this has to be a no-no.

To start with, how do you cross the A40 – a roundabout, traffic lights or a flyover? I can’t really see the Highways Agency or the residents of Northway agreeing to that. But if traffic did come into Northway, where would it go? Along the Marston Road or through Marston on to the A40.

Headley Way has its traffic problems so more traffic feeding on to the Cherwell Drive junction will hardly be welcome.

DERRICK HOLT
Fortam Close
Headington
Oxford