A ROAD dubbed “Oxford’s strangest street” is set to see improvements after a 15-year campaign by a city councillor.

Street lights are to be installed later this year in an unlit section of Roger Dudman Way, which runs behind the railway station from Botley Road to blocks of flats in Venneit Close and Oxford University student accommodation.

Susanna Pressel, the Labour councillor for Jericho and Osney, said getting agreement to install the lights had been “an incredibly tortuous process”.

Four organisations are responsible for sections of the road – the county council, First Great Western, which runs the station, Network Rail and Oxford University.

This split in ownership led Ms Pressel to dub it “Oxford’s strangest street” in 2007.

The lights will be installed along the section owned by Network Rail, alongside the north end of platform two at the station.

The part of the road beyond this, which is owned by the university, and the cycle and footpath to the Walton Well Road bridge, already has street lighting installed.

The money will come from planning gain payments made by housing developers. The work could cost about £85,000.

Ms Pressel said: “It’s very important to improve the road.

“Hundreds of people live there, there’s a children’s nursery and it also provides a route for cyclists and pedestrians to and from the north of the city. What we still need to see is a proper footway the length of the road, for pedestrians to walk safely, separated from traffic.”

Student Mary Ondieki, 21, from Venneit Close, said: “When we come home late at night it’s quite dark along here. Better lights are a really good idea.”

Nikki Tritton, deputy manager of Co-operative Childcare’s Buffer Bears nursery, which is in Roger Dudman Way, said: “It would be amazing to have lights. In the winter it’s pitch-black in parts of the road and we have the parents of 62 children coming here every day, along with all the students and other people who use the road.”

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We’re very happy to do whatever we can to help implement the lighting scheme as soon as possible, to help everyone who uses the street.”