A ROAD in Littlemore where residents claim drivers speed and accidents are common may not be improved for years, a campaign group has been warned.

Littlemore city councillor John Tanner said Oxfordshire County Council had made it clear the money would not be available for improvements to be made to Oxford Road.

But Oxford Road Action Group (OXRAG) said those who lived in the road were becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of improvements and were considering taking things into their own hands.

Mr Tanner said: "What the county council says is that they have not got any money and the money they do have is primarily going to main roads.

"The minor roads will be left to hang.

"I am pinning my hopes on trying to get money through Littlemore Parish Council but even to put in a single road hump would be about £30,000.

"It means traffic misery for years."

Mr Tanner added the the county council had stated it would set aside £10,000 in the coming financial year for improvements in Oxford Road.

He said he hoped community infrastructure levy (CIL) money from proposed housing developments near the Heyford Hill Sainsbury's and in land near Armstrong Road could also be used to add traffic calming measures to the road.

CIL money is provided by developers for improvements in an area when a major construction scheme takes place.

Mr Tanner said: "There is some possibility that eventually we would be able to use some of that money in Littlemore.

That is the best hope I can see, if anyone can come up with a better one I would be over the moon."

Chris Chaundy of OXRAG lives in Oxford Road and helped set the group up last year after he and other residents said they were fed up with bad driving in the road.

He said the county council had not done enough and not enough progress was being made.

The father-of-two said: "We are banging our heads off a brick wall.

"We want more people to sign our petition so we can highlight this as an issue.

"We are thinking about maybe doing a bit of a protest.

"We feel if the police will not do anything and the county council will not do anything we will have to look at doing something to calm the traffic down.

"Two vans came down here the other day doing 50 or 60mph or faster."

In a letter sent to Mr Tanner, county council traffic, safety and area steward manager David Tole said he had spoken to Oxford locality manager Martin Kraftl about the issue.

Mr Tole said: "You will appreciate that I cannot do any more towards the suggested changes to the road layout and traffic calming without any money.

"I had thought that this message – however unwelcome – had been passed on to the residents."

He added that he would speak to residents again soon to clarify this.