THE East Area Planning Committee has given permission for the redevelopment of Templars Square. While these 1960s buildings will therefore be renewed, provision for cycling remains virtually unchanged, 50 years out of date. It is a deplorable oversight that cycling is nowhere mentioned in the conditions for approval. At the meeting, some councillors pressed for an agreed cycling scheme to be integrated into the design either before granting permission, or as a specified planning condition. Both options were blocked.

The Oxford Transport Strategy, part of LTP4, designates Between Towns Road as a Cycle Super Route, with continuous, fully segregated cycle lanes where possible. The county council, as highway authority, endorsed this policy unanimously in 2016. Yet the East Area Committee has now approved a very much weaker design: ‘continuing cycle lanes up to, and where possible through, junctions to reaffirm cycle priority and safety’ and only advisory lanes, not mandatory. Junctions are where most cycling collisions occur yet the design concedes the junctions to vehicle traffic, without continuous cycle lanes. White painted lines that wear out will never attract would-be cyclists to ride their bikes. Only physical protection such as bolted-down ‘armadillos’ can hope to do this.

Incomprehensibly, the design will widen the carriageway approaches at the Between Towns Road/Barns Road mini-roundabout. But research shows that ways to discourage speeding are to narrow approaches and tighten corner radii. Optimally for full cycle segregation, the cycle lane should be built around the perimeter, entirely off the carriageway – a ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout. The present design has completely passed up this chance for decent 21st-century cycling provision.

It’s essential that transport planning officers salvage whatever is still possible to improve cycling and walking.

DR HAZEL DAWE
Cyclox Champion for Cowley