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RESIDENTS of a West Oxfordshire village have complained about the design of “awful” new fencing and bollards designed to slow down traffic.

Councillor Neil Owen said Oxfordshire County Council officers told him the bollards in Asthall, near Burford, complied with standard road design rules.

They have been installed to slow traffic over the River Windrush bridge into the village, which engineers fear is in danger of collapsing.

Some residents have claimed the bollards scratch their cars and are out of keeping with the character of the area.

The county council has yet to comment.

The Conservative Burford and Carterton North member said the design of the features, installed two months ago, had gone “over the top”.

Mr Owen said: “They have probably not been put in with the most sensitivity in this area.

“The bridge had to be repaired and as part of the complete package these were put in.

“They are unsightly, awful and unnecessary.

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“An officer at the county council has told me they may tone them down a bit but we shall wait and see.”

Asthall Parish Council clerk Gill Hill said the county council had put the measures in temporarily to slow traffic because of fears the bridge could collapse.

She said: “It is an area of natural beauty and a conservation area but they have put these in.

“It is very narrow. You have really got to slow down when you are going through.

“I have got a normal five-door car and I have to go really slowly to get through.

“Delivery vehicles or buses would get scraped.”

Dominic Wood, who owns the Maytime Inn in Asthall, said the gap between the bollards is too small.

He said: “You cannot fit a decent-sized car through. It makes it really difficult to get past.

“It can scratch the wheels of cars. If you look at the sides you can see the bollard has been scratched.

“If anybody tried to put up anything like this in their own property, the council would come to look at it.

“Why anybody would want to put something like that up, I can't understand. It's not good for the village. It's frustrating really.”

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