NETWORK Rail is proposing to the council planners that the acoustic barriers to be installed in Upper Wolvercote should be much less effective on the western side of the track (St Peter’s and Ulfgar Roads) compared to the eastern side (Blenheim Drive).
According to their plans, the angle between the primary noise source and the top of the barrier will be 44 degrees on the Blenheim side, but as low as nine degrees on the St Peter’s and Ulfgar side.
Normalising in terms of height – if each were placed in equivalent locations – whereas the barrier along Blenheim Drive is 2.5m high, the barrier along St Peters and Ulfgar Roads would be as low as just 0.4m.
Reminiscent of the Cutteslowe Walls 80 years ago, the people living along the western side will be seriously disadvantaged by this environmental discrimination for the lifetime of the barrier.
The source of this outrage is the combination of out-of-date maps (at least six homes are omitted), duff data being presented to the “independent” experts, and the refusal by these experts to get off their backsides and check the “ground truth” with what they are being told by Network Rail.
KEITH DANCEY
St Peter’s Road, Upper Wolvercote
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