Transform Oxford set for go-ahead (From The Oxford Times)

Transform Oxford set for go-ahead

6:20am Thursday 16th April 2009

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The pedestrianisation of Oxford’s busiest shopping area is set to be given the go-ahead next week.

A major public consultation showed that fewer than four in ten people support Oxfordshire County Council’s plan to pedestrianise Queen Street, with Oxford bus companies also unhappy about the two-phase project.

The green light, however, will be given to all key elements of the controversial scheme, which promises to initially remove a third of the buses clogging up Queen Street, with all bus stops taken out and moved to St Aldate’s, Castle Street and New Road.

Pavements will also be widened to create more space for pedestrians, the road resurfaced and new benches and cycle racks added. Work is expected to be completed in the early autumn.

It means, however, that Queen Street will not be fully pedestrianised until 2011 at the earliest, with calls from the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach to pedestrianise the street in one go having been rejected.

The consultation figures show only 39 per cent of responses backed the Queen Street plan, with 34 per cent negative and 27 per cent expressing no view.

Council officers will recommend that cabinet member for transport Ian Hudspeth approves the scheme, which will be the first phase of County Hall’s ambitious Transform Oxford project to pedestrianise much of the city centre within five years.

County Hall will seek to mollify pensioner and disabled bus users, who called for a delay to the start of work, with a number of changes to help bus users.

There are proposals for seating for people who find it hard to walk to their relocated bus stops, with improvements to the pavement in Castle Street, where more people will be faced with waiting for buses.

A zebra crossing should be built on the corner of Castle Street and New Road to help people crossing from Queen Street to bus stops, while the park-and-ride bus stop to Redbridge will be reinstated to St Aldate’s.

Additional cycle parking close to Carfax and at the west of Queen Street will also be investigated.

Mr Hudspeth said: “We have been very careful to consult and we have made every effort to reach out and offer people a chance to have their say. Changes have been proposed as a result of the feedback we received.”

But Michael Hugh-Jones, secretary of the Oxfordshire Pensioners’ Action Group, said: “They clearly have not listened to what my group and Oxford Civic Society have been saying.

"It would be far better to do this with the agreement of the bus companies. But the council cabinet seems to want to rush this through before the council elections.

“It’s an awful lot of money to spend on something that is going to mean elderly and disabled people having to struggle an extra 100 yards to bus stops with their shopping. And the whole thing is going to have to be rehashed in two years’ time.”

Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach has said that all buses could be taken out of Queen Street as early as next year, as well as joint ticketing and joint timetabling achieved, as part of a new Quality Bus Partnership agreement with the council.

They dismissed the council’s plans as "piecemeal", warning it would lead to bus travellers clogging up pavements in surrounding streets.

County Hall has judged that the bus companies' timetable is not achievable.

A thousand people attended more than 50 meetings about Transform Oxford, with a leaflet sent to every household in the city. Of the 225 responses about the wider transport vision, 46 per cent were positive, 38 per cent against and 16 per cent expressed no clear view.

The County Council is proposing to pedestrianise George Street and Magdalen Street next year, with improvements to Broad Street to quickly follow. Frideswide Square should be redesigned in 2011. County Hall is also bent on cutting bus numbers in High Street and Queen Street, with all options being kept open.

Philip Kirk, managing director of the Oxford Bus Company, said: “We still believe the best way forward is a full Quality Bus Partnership. We do not consider that the halfway stage with Queen Street is the sensible way to go.”

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