Cowley Low Traffic Neighbourhoods start operating on Monday, March 1

The schemes, which aim to stop drivers using residential streets as shortcuts, and improve safety and air quality have been in the pipeline since last year.

Now, after a consultation which found residents largely agree with the ideas behind the scheme, but also proposed some changes, rollout begins on March 1.

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Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We have listened to what transport and other changes local people want to be made and we are now taking action. Thanks to the feedback from residents, we can now implement scheme designs that are right for these communities.

“We are also considering these schemes — as well as wider, interrelated and permanent schemes, including the Zero Emission Zone and Connecting Oxford – as part of our response to address congestion, improve air quality and respond to our climate action agenda.”

Oxfordshire county councillor Yvonne Constance. Picture: Jon Lewis

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, also known as LTNs, use planters or bollards, sometimes called ‘traffic filters,’ to turn through-roads into cul-de-sacs, preventing drivers from using residential back streets as shortcuts between main roads.

While the bollards prevent drivers in private cars from cutting through areas, motorists who live on the streets will still be able to enter and exit their streets by following the routes out.

Cyclists and pedestrians will also be able to pass by the bollards, and the council claims emergency service vehicles will also be able to pass.

The LTNs in Cowley have been divided up into three separate areas: Florence Park, Church Cowley and Temple Cowley.

At two of the traffic filters on Cornwallis Road and Bartholomew Road, buses and taxis will also be able to pass through.

These filters will be similar to ‘bus gates’ in other parts of the city, but it is unclear if they will be guarded by automatic number plate recognition cameras.

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The first area where rollout begins will be Church Cowley on March 1, with filters planned for Littlemore Road, Beauchamp Lane, Churchill Road, Mayfair Road, Liddell Road and Bartholomew Road.

The Florence Park LTN will begin operating on March 8, with filters planned for Cornwallis Road, Rymers Lane, Littlehay Road and Clive Road.

And the Temple Cowley LTN will begin operating on March 15, with filters planned for Crescent Road, Junction Road, Salegate Lane and Temple Road.

The measures will be the first of their kind on Oxford.

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In other areas of the UK, there has been some contention when LTNs have been introduced as part of measures to encourage more people to walk and cycle instead of using private cars to travel.

However, in Oxford it would appear that the majority of people support the measures, according to consultation work by Oxfordshire County Council, released in January.

The LTNs will operate for a six-month trial, during which people can continue to give feedback on them to the council through its website.

After that, they may be kept, scrapped or kept with changes depending on the public mood.