Connecting Oxford Consultation

Summertown St Margaret’s (SStM’s) wishes to make comments on the Connecting Oxford Proposals. 

Unfortunately we have not been able to fully consult our members about the document as the consultation period was too short to organise a meeting to hear their views. However we did fully consult members about transport issues when we were developing our Neighbourhood Plan. 

We have arranged to discuss the consultation document at our AGM on 13th November 2019 when Councillor Tom Hayes will be our main speaker. We may wish to make additional comments after that meeting, if allowed.

SStM’s is severely affected by the sheer volume of traffic that passes through the area during rush hours. We suffer from slow moving, nose to tail traffic with regular traffic jams, which cause frustration, wasted time & pollution as well as  severe economic consequences. Most of the traffic does not need to be in the area but is passing through to work places either on the eastern side of the city or in the city centre.

The initiative is fully supported by SStMNF. It is long overdue. Traffic problems in North Oxford have been severe for many years, in spite of measures such as the Park & Ride and the bus gate in High St. Traffic in Oxford is predicted to get worse as the city grows. Most of the initiatives that you are suggesting are ones that we included in our Neighbourhood Plan.

Work in recent years on the Woodstock and Banbury Road roundabouts has helped the flow of vehicular traffic in and out of North Oxford, possibly at the expense of increasing congestion on the northern by-pass and in SStM.

North Oxford has two good north / south roads, the A4144 Woodstock Road  and the A4165 Banbury Road. West /east traffic between these two roads and continuing along the B4495 Marston Ferry Road is carried by a relatively narrow residential road, Moreton Road. The traffic lights between Moreton and Marston Ferry Road are difficult and cause considerable delays.

The plans for traffic restrictions on Marston Ferry Road  and Hollow Way, stopping through traffic but still allowing access to local traffic  make a lot of sense. Care will have to be taken to make sure that rat runs do not make local traffic congestion worse.

Reducing the volume of vehicular traffic in Oxford needs to be accompanied by increasing the amount of sustainable transport: replacing cars with buses and developing a comprehensive network of first class connected cycle routes and footpaths

Traffic through North Oxford is markedly affected by school & Oxford University terms, with rush hour problems being very significantly worse during term time. Too many school children are ferried to and from school by private car. These are double journeys with the parents driving back home or to work after dropping their children in the morning & driving back in to pick them up & take them home at the end of the school day. This is not only bad for traffic and pollution but also for the children’s health, as they are not taking exercise when going to school.

This problem would most effectively be tackled by congestion charging but any charging point would have to be before the school was reached. The proposed WPL will not help here as the parents are not parking. The problem seems to affect private more than state schools in North Oxford, with Cherwell & Phil & Jim having very good sustainable transport rates. Private school children, in the main, have longer journeys to school and private schools tend to turn a blind eye to the traffic problems they generate.

Overall, the best way of reducing traffic in North Oxford would be through congestion charging. This would be highly effective as it would affect all traffic entering the area but the charging zone would have to exclude the Summertown shopping & business area if it were not to affect its vibrancy.

You argue against a WPL in the city centre because there are relatively few private parking places there but we should aim to make the centre of the city as traffic free as possible. A WPL on every private parking space would be one way of doing that and it would reduce traffic in North Oxford.

The proposed TWO Oxford North developments will add considerably to North Oxford traffic. Further modelling needs to be done to confirm whether a A40 / A44 link road is needed. Sustainable transport links at the Woodstock Road roundabout need to be substantially improved with a pedestrian & cycle bridge across the roundabout. Cycle routes between Oxford North & both Oxford railway stations need be continuous and made into Cycle Super Highways.

The measures you suggest in the consultation would make a great deal of difference to Oxford’s traffic problems but it is unlikely that they will be fully resolved without building a metro or tramway system.

SStMNF supports further development of your proposals. 

Summertown St Margaret’s Neighbourhood Forum Steering Group