A SERIES of speed bumps, zebra crossings and raised junctions on the main road outside a major new housing estate will just push impatient drivers onto other nearby roads, councillors have warned.

Oxfordshire County Council has proposed a total of two zebra crossings, five raised table top T-junctions, four sets of ‘speed cushions’ and four areas of ‘high friction’ surface on Newlands Drive in Grove.

The measures are all designed to slow drivers down once the 2,500-home Grove Airfield housing estate is built next door.

However the road is regularly used by locals and commuters to get around the outside of the village, and Grove Parish Council has warned that forcing those drivers to run a gauntlet of bumps and stops will just push them onto the main road through the centre of the village, Brereton Drive.

Chairman June Stock said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.

“They’re saying they’re doing it to stop speeding, but the government have said they’re not putting in speed bumps anymore, and when you slow down and speed up again you also put more out pollution.

“We’re saying it’s going to put people off going to the new shops on the airfield because if you live in the village and have to go over all those flipping speed bumps you’re not going to go down there – people will whoosh down Brereton Drive instead.”

The parish council has pleaded with the county to use mini roundabouts at the main junctions instead, but said all its appeals have been ‘to no avail’.

Now the controversial calming measures are set to be signed off by the county council tomorrow.

In a letter to the county, the Grove councillors wrote: “We would urge the county council to reconsider the use of mini roundabouts as being more environmentally acceptable and in line with central government guidance.”

The county said that while it had received objections regarding safety, noise and air pollution ‘the design of the crossings fully complies with national guidance in respect of their spacing... and their siting in relation to side road junctions’.

What’s more, it said, ‘such crossings are widely used in urban areas including nearby examples on the Denchworth Road in Wantage south of Mably Way without resulting in such difficulties’.

It concluded: “The provision of the crossings will significantly assist the safety and amenity of pedestrians crossing between the new residential development and Grove, it being also noted that both crossings are considered necessary to cater for the anticipated pedestrian crossing demand.”