FIRSTLY, I must congratulate Katie Herring for steadfastly pursuing Oxfordshire County Council for three months, eventually receiving a minimal response to her Freedom of Information enquiry regarding the lack of cycle lanes at the new Frideswide Square debacle.

The planners, or ‘chancers’ as I like to call them, have again quite wrongly taken the public for mugs. Why?

Wait for it. The £5.8m redesign has no dedicated lanes for cyclists. And there’s more. Ian Hudspeth wrote on this letters page that pedestrians and cyclists are now going to have to share the paths or large ‘boulevard’ areas.

He trusts them all to get on swimmingly together “as they do in other parts of the city”. I can’t think of anywhere in Oxford where they mix together happily.

So the ‘chancers’ have planned for cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles to mingle with each other with no mishaps.

On the other hand the same ‘chancers’ have decreed that the beautiful approach to the leafy suburb of Old Marston is to be decimated by having established mature trees removed. This is to allow for cycle lanes to be provided in an area that cyclists hardly ever use, unlike the Oxford rail station.

Now, I have always been an advocate of removing or turning off traffic lights at certain times of the day. From my own experience I have found drivers are quite good at working things out for themselves.

This alleviates the stopping and starting and ensuing hold-ups.

The ‘chancers’ have removed all traffic lights from Frideswide Square – great.

This has already helped the traffic move more freely down Botley Road. But as one drives into Oxford via Hythe Bridge Street or Park End Street one is met with, guess what, traffic lights.

So the bottleneck about 500m away has not been changed at all.

The worst junction is the Worcester Street, George Street and Hythe Bridge Street.

Nothing planned to help traffic flow here. Pedestrians must take precedence but this crossing causes huge delays backing up to Frideswide Square and to St Giles’ and beyond. Surely Gloucester Green cannot continue for much longer as a bus station with all the bus movements in the busy spot.

Apparently, using the same logic as they have in Frideswide Square, the same ‘chancers’ have planned for traffic lights to be installed on the Banbury and Woodstock Road roundabouts. Is this going to improve or impede the traffic flows?

Please write down you answer and send, with your views, to Oxfordshire County Council, County Hall, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1ND for personal attention of Ian Hudspeth and tell him to consult with the public fully and openly now and in future and to act upon their views and opinions.

TONY GREENFIELD
Raymund Road, Old Marston