Complaints see plans for bus lane changed

6:00pm Saturday 19th January 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Jamie Brooks, Contact me on 01865 425422

Councillor Roz Smith at the bus stop on the London route Councillor Roz Smith at the bus stop on the London route

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a new bus lane in Headington have been changed after residents complained.

Major changes to the scheme in London Road have been proposed after Oxfordshire County Council considered the plan at a recent strategy meeting.

Transport bosses wanted to add a new inbound bus lane on London Road from the Green Road roundabout to the junction with Gladstone Road.

But now they are proposing the bus lane will only run from the Green Road roundabout as far as Lyndworth Close.

Councillor Roz Smith feels the plans are a significant improvement on the initial proposal.

Ms Smith said: “The first plan has now gone and they have come back to something much more sensible.

“The county council got a lot of information from our public meeting. They now say no trees will go and we won’t lose some of the footpaths.

“They are also making improvements to the Green Road roundabout.

“But the devil is in the detail. It still has to go to a public consultation.”

The changes come after more than 100 people packed a public meeting on the scheme in December.

Residents raised concerns over plans to cut the width of the pavements on both sides of the road.

They were also worried that a cycle lane would be removed and trees cut down.

While changes are proposed, campaigners are not celebrating victory yet.

One of those to attend the meeting, London Road resident Maria Garrard, said: “I hadn’t heard about any changes. But we didn’t see any plans before the last meeting and we have been trying to get them since.”

The county council made the changes after considering the costs and benefits of the scheme.

Another change will see the existing bus stop opposite Northfield Road moved. It will be placed in line with a bus stop on the other side of the road, closer to Lyndworth Close.

Ms Garrard added: “It will definitely affect people on Lyndworth Close and around North Way if they start mucking about there. We’ll have to see.”

Inbound buses would still share the carriageway with other traffic as far as the next stop at Gladstone Road.

Limited road widening would still be needed, but only for about 20 metres to the east of Northfield Road.

County council transport bosses say the project, due to be completed in 2014, will improve access to the city centre and Headington.

The scheme is part of a wider £5m council project to boost transport links in the area.

But Ms Smith would like to see work completed sooner – particularly with the state London Road is currently in.

She added: “People would like to see a start to this work and an improvement to this terrible road surface. Do we really have to wait until 2014 for this work to start before something is done about it?”

A public consultation on the plans will be held in March.

Comments(7)

Grunden Skip says...
8:21pm Sat 19 Jan 13

I knew it would happen, now that all of the NIMBYS have stopped non-green developments/road improvements/power stations. They have found themselves with nothing to do, so now they have started on Green power developments, road improvements for public transport, and Green housing developments, all over Oxfordshire. Goodnight Oxfordshire, and can the last one left with anything at all, please turn off the last remaining light.

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Myron Blatz says...
11:01pm Sat 19 Jan 13

Roz Smith usually makes sense, and doesn't keep us in the darke.

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bagsie says...
9:19am Sun 20 Jan 13

This is the wrong approach to dealing with traffic congestion. The authorities need to give serious consideration to schemes which restrict the use of private cars in certain areas at certain times. Very difficult but we all need to rediscover public transport and start using our legs a bit more - good for the environment and good for health.

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Andrew:Oxford says...
10:12am Sun 20 Jan 13

It's hardly worth doing now.

There'll be a separate bus lane to the point where traffic merges, then there is the popular bus stop where boarding passengers can take a couple of minutes to clear which holds back other traffic (including buses) on the roundabout.at the moment.

If I'm around that area in the peaks*, I always feel a little bit sick when I see an ambulance stuck in the traffic - blues and sirens on - but nowhere for the other drivers to go to get out of the way.

I'm told it can take more than 20 minutes for an emergency vehicle to reach A&E from Green Road.Roundabout - I don't doubt it.

The CPRE have campaigned to prevent improved emergency access to the JR through the Northway Council Estate and have declared Foxwell drive a wildlife route to reinforce this.

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Feelingsmatter says...
3:55pm Sun 20 Jan 13

I have an ill son who I need to regularly drive to the JR. Traffic congestion means I leave plenty of time, and while I agree with you, Grunden Skip, that our environment is important, I cannot take an ill child on the bus. Placing restrictions on which traffic can access certain roads along a route to a major hospital is impractical.

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Grunden Skip says...
6:18pm Sun 20 Jan 13

Feelingsmatter wrote:
I have an ill son who I need to regularly drive to the JR. Traffic congestion means I leave plenty of time, and while I agree with you, Grunden Skip, that our environment is important, I cannot take an ill child on the bus. Placing restrictions on which traffic can access certain roads along a route to a major hospital is impractical.
Whilst understanding your point. Depending from which direction you come from Every road is a route to the major hospital. Whilst the solution is to ignore the CPRE and build an access road from the A40, and also many other new roads, but this will never happen as everything is done on the cheap EG Green Road, so we have to choose between gridlock and at least some movement for public transport.

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King Joke says...
12:05pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Andrew:Oxford wrote:
It's hardly worth doing now. There'll be a separate bus lane to the point where traffic merges, then there is the popular bus stop where boarding passengers can take a couple of minutes to clear which holds back other traffic (including buses) on the roundabout.at the moment. If I'm around that area in the peaks*, I always feel a little bit sick when I see an ambulance stuck in the traffic - blues and sirens on - but nowhere for the other drivers to go to get out of the way. I'm told it can take more than 20 minutes for an emergency vehicle to reach A&E from Green Road.Roundabout - I don't doubt it. The CPRE have campaigned to prevent improved emergency access to the JR through the Northway Council Estate and have declared Foxwell drive a wildlife route to reinforce this.
Spot on, Andrew. As usual, bus passengers have been the last people to be considered in the way the scheme is being formulated. The County have looked to save money by downgrading the bus lane, and local residents whingeing about loss of pavement have played right into their hands. Presumably the same whingers never get the bus and can't see how decent priority would improve things for the thousands that use the high-intensity No 8 service daily. Bus lanes are also good for cyclists and emergency vehicles.

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