Sir – In more normal circumstances I might share Richard Thurston’s delight that Network Rail are finally ready to reinstate the footbridge connecting Mill Street and Osney Lane (Report, April 2).
It has certainly been a long time in coming and I am sure that the convenience of having a bridge in this location has been sorely missed by many Osney and Mill Street residents. Shame then, and my choice of words does not really do justice to my sentiment, that in the same week The Oxford Times reports that the Oxfordshire Probation Service is planning to relocate and consolidate its services to Mill Street.
I for one will not be resuming my use of the new footbridge from fear of just who I might meet on the way.
Couple that with the news that Oxford police receive more calls concerning anti-social behaviour than Reading, Newbury, Slough, Bracknell or Maidenhead (also reported on April 2), it seems to me that situating Oxford’s main probation facility in a residential area such as Mill Street is grossly neglectful of the public interest and the so-called desire of this Government to protect family life.
And that is before we begin to consider the impact of 100 staff and 300 probationary ‘customers’ will have on the traffic flow along a narrow residential street which is the only vehicular access to the facility.
Apparently no planning permission is required — but perhaps some joined-up thinking might be helpful!
Beverley Lear, Oxford
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