IT is no wonder there are no Tory councillors in Oxford if their county colleagues can be guilty of such monumental follies as demonstrated by their recent transport proposals.

When the county is facing savage cuts in its basic services they announce yet more grandiose schemes almost by the week.

Not content with trams or guided busways they now propose spending millions of pounds on a series of tunnels across the city.

Earlier this year when the Lib Dem on the county proposed the re-opening of the rail line to Witney using tram-trains; the Tories voted the idea down. Presumably it wasn’t grandiose enough for their liking.

Clear leadership is needed to solve the problems that make travelling around the city and county such a nightmare at present; blue sky thinking can come later.

For example, work on the George Street/Worcester Street junction should only take place at night, with two way working during the day for as long as possible.

This key north-south artery across the city currently has levels of disruption not acceptable to pedestrians and cyclists as well as motorists.

More radical measures would have included looking to site extra car parking at stations such as Radley and Culham to encourage some commuters to travel by train and reserving one road into the city, perhaps the Abingdon Road, as a bus and cycle only route during rush hours.

Free parking at park and rides for cars with three or more passengers might have encouraged car sharing.

Cllr John Howson
Lib Dem Councillor
St Margaret’s Division
Oxfordshire County Council

 

Today’s letters


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