RESIDENT Keith Bruce, from Church Cowley, gives his opinion on the new Low Traffic Neighbourhood [LTN] scheme implemented by Oxfordshire County Council earlier this month.

I have lived in Cromwell Road in Cowley for the last 25 years – I am the local builder and general handyman in the area and I only became aware of the implementation of the LTN’s through the local neighbourhood app called ‘Nextdoor’, I would have expected the council to have informed everyone in the post, as they did with the CPZ proposal.

On viewing a questionnaire on the council’s website, I found the questions to be biased to answer in favour of the LTNs.

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I have not seen any surveys on accidents, traffic volumes or air quality for my area, thus I am concerned on how they will be able to classify if the LTN has been successful once the trial is over.

It is obvious that there will be less traffic passing on through because the roads are blocked, but this will have a knock-on effect on other roads where the traffic is being funnelled onto those roads, increasing the pollution there.

Some residents will gain – some will lose out.

I currently travel a lot within the Cowley area in a van – I must for work – and the LTN will add an excess of 800 miles per year just travelling to and from work.

As with other workers who use vehicles daily, I am losing out financially and my social relaxing time is now shorter.

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I am not against people walking or cycling, I play football and know the benefits of exercise.

Travelling within my area is safe if people act accordingly, we can all crossroads, cycle and drive safely.

A road is not there to play on – there are play areas locally for that.

The two-mile short journeys people are moaning about are mainly used on school runs – and we shot ourselves in the foot when we allowed our kids to attend schools outside our catchment area.

Walking in quiet streets with the night driving in is now a hazard.

Read also: Petition to remove Cowley LTNs gains over 1,000 signatures

These LTNs should have been discussed and debated in-depth with all residents within and in the peripheral locations; not slipped under the radar perhaps then they would have got a better reception – locals know better than anyone.

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