'Cuts threaten children's safety' (From The Oxford Times)

'Cuts threaten children's safety'

7:10am Saturday 21st April 2012 in Oxford By Andrew Ffrench, covering Didcot and Wallingford. Call me on 01865 425425

People in Wyatt Road want councils to take action over their street

A LACK of cash is putting the brakes on road safety measures for families living in flats in North Oxford.

Residents living in social housing in Wyatt Road have been calling for traffic calming measures since they moved into their homes in 2008.

But a 100-metre stretch of road near their homes remains unadopted and the owner, the city council, says it cannot afford the £15,000 to repair the pavement and road surface.

Until that work is done highways authority Oxfordshire County Council will not adopt it and so will not consider safety measures such as traffic calming.

Now Liberal Democrat city and county councillor Jean Fooks, who represents the city council ward of Summertown, is lobbying the city council stump up the cash.

Father-of-four Rodney Wright, 55, of Wyatt Road, who lives with wife Clare and children Kieran, 17, Caitlin, seven, and four-year-old twins Jack and Callum, said: “There are about 40 children who live on this little estate.

“They do gather on the street sometimes and there are no traffic calming measures. If this stretch of road could be adopted then some safety measures could at least be considered.

“There are no humps in the road and drivers in the area go quite fast.”

Fellow Wyatt Road resident, mum-of-four Maggie Collier, who lives with children Daniel, 17, Andrew, 15, Megan, 12, and Ben, four, added: “There’s a blind corner in Wyatt Road, so I think there’s an accident waiting to happen.

“A six-year-old boy did get knocked by a car but fortunately he was not badly hurt.”

Ms Fooks said: “People living in Wyatt Road have been calling for years for this section of road to be adopted so that safety measures can be considered.”

In a statement to a council meeting on Monday, she will say: “The county council is willing to adopt this road, so that traffic calming and yellow lines can be considered, but need the road to be brought up to adoptable standard first.

“It will cost about £15,000, to redo the pavement and resurface the road.

“Paradigm Housing Association, the owners of the estate, have brought their roads up to adoptable standard but the county council cannot adopt them until the link road to Jackson Road is adopted too. The city council’s failure to accept responsibility for this short piece of road, despite being the owners, is putting tenants, and especially their children, at risk.”

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said: “We accept full responsibility for this road and it is being maintained in good condition.“We recognise that the issue is important. We do not have the budget at the present time to carry out this work. However, we are working to identify funding opportunities.”