When a road across Christ Church Meadow was a major plan for Oxford

The debate had raged for more than three decades over where they should be built to relieve congestion.

But in 1972, there was a dramatic change of policy - cars would no longer have priority.

READ MORE: Oxford North will be tech and science hub

The Balanced Transport Policy adopted by the city council would ensure that the needs of other road users - bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians - would receive equal consideration.

It is a policy that has remained in place ever since.

Oxford became the first city to introduce park and ride.

Bus and cycle lanes appeared and pedestrian and bus only streets were introduced to encourage motorists to make less use of their cars. Rail services were also improved.

It has been a far cry from what had been originally proposed.

For 30 years, the favoured route for a relief road had been across Christ Church Meadow, to protect High Street, its gentle curve and historic buildings.

The idea was opposed by Oxford University and generations of students who had studied here.

There was great relief in the academic world when in 1966, traffic consultants dropped the meadow in favour of a route to the south, across Eastwyke Farm.

READ MORE: Bank reunion as Bicester HSBC shuts for good

However, the new road would have destroyed hundreds of homes in East and South Oxford - and anger erupted in both areas.

There were rowdy scenes at a series of public meetings where families vented their feelings at councillors and council officials at the possible loss of their homes.

Despite fierce opposition, the Tory-led city council voted in favour of the Eastwyke Farm route and it was eventually approved after a public inquiry led by a Government inspector.

But by 1970, it was becoming clear that the idea of building new roads to solve city centre traffic problems was falling out of favour.

Many argued that new roads would mean more traffic - it was much better to encourage motorists to leave their cars at home and make their way to city centres by other means.

With Labour councillors now in charge, Oxford led the way and many other cities and towns have adopted similar ideas to ease their traffic problems.

The debate over Oxford roads dominated national newspapers as well as the Oxford Mail for many years.

Until the ring road was completed, Carfax was a major hub for not only local traffic but long-distance through traffic.

READ MORE: 'School cleaners could also be qualified to teach'

The city’s street system, established in Saxon times, was never built for the huge number of vehicles wanting to use it. Former students from around the world joined the debate over whether a new road should be built across Christ Church Meadow.

Various schemes were discussed, including one for a sunken Meadow road.

In the end, university folk defending the meadow and residents in East and South Oxford defending their homes won the battle.

When the Oxford Transport Strategy was launched in 1999, buses were removed from Cornmarket.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

• Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
• Advert-light access 
• Reader rewards 
• Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.