Jericho neighbours ask for wider pavements as streets get busier

7:10pm Monday 7th January 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Damian Fantato, covering Summertown, Jericho and North Oxford. Call me on 01865 425429

JERICHO residents are calling for action to be taken over a street which they say has become choked with traffic.

Walton Street runs from King-ston Road to Beaumont Street and is home to some of Jericho’s best loved pubs and shops but residents say it has become busier than ever.

Now there have been calls for action to be taken to make the street a more welcoming place for cyclists and walkers.

Paul Hornby, the vice-chairman of the Jericho Community Association, said: “The nature of Walton Street has changed entirely. “Not so many years ago it was just a neighbourhood street but it is becoming not as use- friendly as it once was.

“There is parking on both sides of the street in some places and you need eyes in the back of your head if you’re going to cycle down there. Some people are certainly using it rather than going down St Giles and Woodstock Road.”

Mr Hornby said he would like to see more traffic calming measures along the street in addition to the few speed bumps which are already there.

He also suggested widening the pavements to make the area more “user-friendly”.

Walton Street is home to the Jericho Tavern, the Phoenix Picturehouse and Oxford University Press as well as one side of Oxford University’s Radcliffe Observatory Quarter which is currently being developed.

Related links

The problem has become worse, Mr Hornby said, as Jericho has become a more popular area because of its bars and shops and also because drivers are using it as a rat-run.

Instead of going down St Giles and Woodstock Road, some drivers are using Walton Street which runs parallel.

Over the past year there have been four accidents, two of them serious, along the street – all involving cyclists.

City councillor Susanna Pressel, who represents Jericho, said: “People in Jericho don’t tend to use their cars very much. They tend to walk or take the bus and it is a shame that streets are ruled by motor vehicles.

“I do agree that it would be better if there was more shared space and we certainly need wider pavements in Walton Street because a lot of people use them.”

The concept of shared space between cars, cyclists and pedestrians has been used in some of Oxfordshire County Council’s schemes such as the planned redevelopment of Frideswide Square but has proved controversial.

Paul Smith, a spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Residents are welcome to contact the council directly to articulate any concerns they may have.”

Comments(29)

BartSimpson_ox says...
5:47am Tue 8 Jan 13

City councillor Susanna Pressel, who represents Jericho, said: “People in Jericho don’t tend to use their cars very much. They tend to walk or take the bus and it is a shame that streets are ruled by motor vehicles.

What a load of tosh! Every street in Jericho is full of parked cars, and it's in a residents zone!! Why lie to try to prove a point????

Report this post »

Myron Blatz says...
7:44am Tue 8 Jan 13

Right-on Bart! Most people in Jericho don"t rely on Stagecoach 17 service as it isn't reliably anything - except usually late, with frequency slippage now so bad that the houtly service is now about 1hr 20+mins, compared to Blackbird Leys every 4mins, and Rose Hill buses every 7-8mins. As for parking issues, the fact is that the narrow streets weren't designed for on-street parking, let alone the size of vehicles. Nor was (most of) the area built at a time when people even owned cars, let alone had maybe two people per home with a vehicle to park. Even if dictatorial local authotities tried to ban vehicles or further restrict on-street parking, what alternative off-street parking facilities could be provided where land is so stupidly over-priced, due to excessively greedy 'market forces' and over-bloated 'postcode ghettoes' for which Oxford has become notorious for? People like Labour City Cllr Pressel are happy to take people's Council Tax revenue, but don't seem to have workable solutions for those who live, shop or visit such places, other than restricting parking in various ways, or introducing punitive fines. Or, maybe we should follow the example on Sark, where all vehicles are banned, other than tractors, horses and carts - though 'ye olde' eco-friendly horse-n-stagecoaches blissfilly clomping along routes 16 and 17 would probably still be late!

Report this post »

King Joke says...
12:35pm Tue 8 Jan 13

The 17, running every 70 mins during daylight hours only, is woefully inadequate for the busy commercial area that Jericho has become.

The very least that could be done would be to divert the No 6 along Walton St, instead of along the sparsely-populated Woodstock Rd, 200 m from a busy bus corridor on the Banbury Rd.

Really though, with that many late bars in Jericho, you need a night bus service as well, maybe linking into the N1 along the Cowley Rd.

Report this post »

Andrew:Oxford says...
1:20pm Tue 8 Jan 13

BartSimpson_ox wrote:
City councillor Susanna Pressel, who represents Jericho, said: “People in Jericho don’t tend to use their cars very much. They tend to walk or take the bus and it is a shame that streets are ruled by motor vehicles.

What a load of tosh! Every street in Jericho is full of parked cars, and it's in a residents zone!! Why lie to try to prove a point????
Then Ms Pressel should be campaigning for Jericho to become an urban "boulevard" free of motorised transport (except wheelchairs and mobility scooters).

Deliveries to retailers could be made using electric trolleys sponsored by local philanthropists and rubbish and recycling sacks left at the boulevard entrance for collection.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
1:30pm Tue 8 Jan 13

What Ms Pressel is suggesting is that Jericho people don't use their cars much, which is probably true as much of what they need is a short walk or bus ride away. THe streets are full of parked cars because people need to use theirs occasionally. What areas like Jericho need is a car club so people can use a car when they need it, rather than keeping one parked outside and using it once a week.

Report this post »

EMBOX2 says...
5:04pm Tue 8 Jan 13

So next time, get her voted out and/or stand yourselves.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
5:14pm Tue 8 Jan 13

If Walton St were being used as a rat run, then you could easily solve the problem by installing a bus gate at the Beaumont St end of Walton St.

I suspect that if you did, the residents would become less keen on restricting traffic through Jericho...

Report this post »

oafie says...
5:35pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Jericho is full of students, tourists, workers, shoppers, and builders, builders and more builders....There has been difficulty in parking for years, everyone knew it would get worse yet time and time again planning permission is given for further properties to be developed.

Parking regulations are regularly flouted by builders and business owners/ Managers who do not have permits but move about parking spaces all day, which are supposed to be short term for visitors/shoppers etc. Why can they not have permits....associate
d with their leases, it is quite obvious who have cozy relationships with the council and so called civil enforcement officers who operate one rule for one and another for the bog standard resident

Those that lived in Walton Well Rd pointed out what would happen when the Waterside development went up, those Waterside residents are now complaining about the traffic in Walton well Rd and suggesting that Southmoor Rd be closed! Of course they also complain about the train horns!

Then we get the over the top Lucy's development....Did no-one consider what effect the numbers of people would have on this area...Of course they did, they just approved it anyway. And then we get the Radcliffe site development which everyone knew would be happening and yet Oxford Council continued to grant planning permission for more developments

Development after development and packing in as many flats and annexes in gardens as possible.....Susanna Pressel has endorsed such developments.

Jericho reached saturation point a long time ago unfortunately and is just horribly overcrowded.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
6:12pm Tue 8 Jan 13

There's room for all the people in Jericho, just not for their cars.

Report this post »

BartSimpson_ox says...
8:10pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Why

Report this post »

Myron Blatz says...
10:49pm Tue 8 Jan 13

It's all part of that well-known 'feel greed' thing, where more and more people are crammed into finite spaces like sardines in a tin can - only we use humans, and call it Oxford!

Report this post »

King Joke says...
6:42am Wed 9 Jan 13

That's why I like it! I'm a Londoner and like having people around. I don't like empty places.

Report this post »

Abartonresident says...
10:21pm Wed 9 Jan 13

King Joke, Why don't you return to London and free-up another job for a local (assuming you do have a job) and another sort after residence would be available. Everyone happy.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
8:45am Thu 10 Jan 13

Ah 'Go back where you came from and stop taking our jobs', the first resort of those who when looking for someone to blame for their own ills, blame an 'outsider' first.

Please state where you think 'local' people start, and the maximum distance someone needs to be 'from' before they should be allowed to work locally. Thame? Aylesbury? High Wycombe? Chorleywood? I'd be intrigued to know where the boundary lies and why. Maybe we need a work permit system, and a test.

Report this post »

## Nonny Mouse ## says...
9:40am Thu 10 Jan 13

Re:- Buses

Why are people getting their knickers in a twist of frequency of buses? The hub of Jericho is less than a mile from the Carfax tower - bloomin walk!! If you are unable to walk that distance, then i expect your life is already beset by compromises, so a bus only every 70mins is probably pretty far down your list.

As for saying 'It's not fair, RH & BBL have buses every 5-10 mins'. They are 3x further away. The bus journey from each takes as long(sometimes longer) as the walk from Jericho into town.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
9:46am Thu 10 Jan 13

A mile is a long way to walk with a bag of shopping in each arm. If the bus route up the Cowley Road stopped a mile short of BBL you can bet there wouldn't be the business to support a four-minute frequency.

Jericho is natural bus territory, it is densely populated and is economically active until the early hours. It won't support Cowley Rd-type frequencies, but the current service is very under-gunned and an operator with commitment could build up a decent commercial service.

Report this post »

cuckoo says...
2:53pm Thu 10 Jan 13

I may be naive here, but wouldn't wider pavements increase the issues for road users? There is limited space for road/pavement and (in case it's being considered) I'm betting adding a cycle lane on the suggested widened pavement might cause it's own problems.
I wonder whatever happened to those little green 'Nipper' buses (of the 80 somethings)? Surely much better suited to narrow/congested streets than even a single deck bus and possibly cheaper to run, hence, allowing a more frequent service as compared to the current one.
Another solution might be to introduce a one way system 'tho, in all honesty, can't work out whether towards or away from the city centre would appease Jericho residents.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
3:14pm Thu 10 Jan 13

The modern equivalent of the 'nipper' buses, the SoLo, is what serves Jericho currently. There is no reason a 12m single-deck can't serve Jericho however, and occasionally does on the No 6 in the evenings.

If pedestrians are regularly walking on the road because the pavements are too narrow, then they need widening. THere is little need for traffic to access Walton St, other than buses, so with suitable traffic measures a narrower road space, shared between cyclists and vehicles, would be fine. Cycling on pavements would not be appropriate here.

Report this post »

Grunden Skip says...
7:24pm Thu 10 Jan 13

King Joke wrote:
The modern equivalent of the 'nipper' buses, the SoLo, is what serves Jericho currently. There is no reason a 12m single-deck can't serve Jericho however, and occasionally does on the No 6 in the evenings.

If pedestrians are regularly walking on the road because the pavements are too narrow, then they need widening. THere is little need for traffic to access Walton St, other than buses, so with suitable traffic measures a narrower road space, shared between cyclists and vehicles, would be fine. Cycling on pavements would not be appropriate here.
The pavements along Walton
Street are more than wide enough, going back 20 years when there was a community in Jericho, far more people walked along there day in day out, but realised that the road is not for ambling along. Now that there is a different kind of resident, the road is to be "reclaimed" for them to do whatever it is that they do, just leave things as they are, I used to wander home from the pub with traffic whizzing past at 60mph and no problem back then, now it struggles to reach 20mph and there is a problem, why? and Mr King the reason that there is no call for a bus service is that the council evicted most of the passengers when they kicked them out from Grantham House, and the rest of the new Jericho residents would not be seen dead on a bus, instead getting out The Jag for the short ride into town. It is horses for courses, and the going is not good for a bus every 10 mins in Jericho.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
8:46am Fri 11 Jan 13

Actually Oxford is one of the cities which has disproven the cliché that only poor people use buses. Summertown for instance provides a lot of business for buses, and this being a suburb where one of the local shops is a Farrow & Ball!

Jericho residents would use a bus if: (a) there were a decent service (b) it took them where they needed to go. The current service is too sparse to be much use.

Report this post »

Isawyoucoming says...
3:10pm Fri 11 Jan 13

King Joke wrote:
That's why I like it! I'm a Londoner and like having people around. I don't like empty places.
plenty of people cheek by jowl in jakarta

Report this post »

King Joke says...
3:13pm Fri 11 Jan 13

I'm sure there are, but I'm quite happy in Oxford thank you.

Report this post »

Grunden Skip says...
4:24am Sat 12 Jan 13

King Joke wrote:
Actually Oxford is one of the cities which has disproven the cliché that only poor people use buses. Summertown for instance provides a lot of business for buses, and this being a suburb where one of the local shops is a Farrow & Ball!

Jericho residents would use a bus if: (a) there were a decent service (b) it took them where they needed to go. The current service is too sparse to be much use.
There is no call for a bus in Jericho with a frequency of more than every hour. Most residents drive or use Taxis. There are never more than 5 passengers on the bus at this frequency as it is. Slim Jim, you need to spend a little time in our street, maybe sat outside The Prince Of Wales with a beer, and observing real life, and then you will see the real picture, not the one imagined at your computer.

Report this post »

DoctorBob says...
5:48pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Those folk in Jericho ain't arf got it ard.

Never had a problem with the pavements in Jericho and never sat in a major traffic jam in Jericho.

If there is a traffic problem then it's to do with the big wide porsh (see what I did there? : ) (and there?) cars one sees increasingly in the area.

Doesn't Susanna Pressel live in Blandford Avenue? That hot bed of Socialism.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
6:07pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Grunden Skip wrote:
King Joke wrote: Actually Oxford is one of the cities which has disproven the cliché that only poor people use buses. Summertown for instance provides a lot of business for buses, and this being a suburb where one of the local shops is a Farrow & Ball! Jericho residents would use a bus if: (a) there were a decent service (b) it took them where they needed to go. The current service is too sparse to be much use.
There is no call for a bus in Jericho with a frequency of more than every hour. Most residents drive or use Taxis. There are never more than 5 passengers on the bus at this frequency as it is. Slim Jim, you need to spend a little time in our street, maybe sat outside The Prince Of Wales with a beer, and observing real life, and then you will see the real picture, not the one imagined at your computer.
Five people on an hourly bus does not equate to one person on a five-per-hour service. With increased frequency comes increased demand.

In the nationalisation days there were three buses an hour from Oxford to Kidlington; until a couple of years ago there were 24! I'm sure people thought 3 bph was good enough in the early 80s, luckily others had more vision.

Report this post »

oafie says...
6:46pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Ahhh I recall the days of the Nipper buses... they were indeed great and well used, but as King Joke has pointed out he is one of those that can afford to live in Oxford but works well away from the area................
..where are all the people who work in Oxford supposed to live twit; can you not understand why this issue has increased the problem with cars.......

Report this post »

King Joke says...
6:55pm Sat 12 Jan 13

Who said I worked out of Oxford? I live and work here, but to the chagrin of another poster, I came here from elsewhere. Sadly some people are still offended by the presence of people born over 15 miles away.

People commuting into Ox from other towns does not necessarily cause 'the problem with cars'. Most of the outlying towns have excellent bus services into the City Centre. 'The problem with cars' is caused by people using cars too much.

Report this post »

Grunden Skip says...
3:45am Sun 13 Jan 13

King Joke wrote:
Who said I worked out of Oxford? I live and work here, but to the chagrin of another poster, I came here from elsewhere. Sadly some people are still offended by the presence of people born over 15 miles away.

People commuting into Ox from other towns does not necessarily cause 'the problem with cars'. Most of the outlying towns have excellent bus services into the City Centre. 'The problem with cars' is caused by people using cars too much.
We have no problem with people coming from outside the area Slim Jim, but we do have a problem with bus employees hi-jacking our website with their propaganda, and commenting on every aspect of our lives without even the slightest knowledge of local history, and then hitting the report this post button when you are disagreed with. Jericho does not need polluting buses every 10 minutes, do you get it.

Report this post »

King Joke says...
8:25am Mon 14 Jan 13

Point the finger elsewhere - I do not work for a bus company and I never report posts. Buses are getting ever cleaner, and emit much less of everything per passenger than cars, so the 'polluting' comment is pretty wide of the mark as well.

Also, please explain why local history means Jericho doesn't deserve decent public transport?

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree