Sir – Residents in Waterways and Waterside, North Oxford, living close to the expanded Oxford-Banbury-Bicester railway infrastructure have every reason to be concerned about both the short- and long-term impact of plans to expand rail traffic passing close to their homes.

 

Whilst most of us share the view that we need to move more freight off the roads and reduce individual car journeys by building affordable opportunities to travel by train, this should not be done without mitigating the impact of extra noise and pollution caused by this increased rail traffic on local communities.

 

It is not being “anti-environmentalist” (Letters, January 15) to press for this, especially when many of the residents moved into the area before such railway expansion was a gleam in the eye of the planners.

 

Attention has been drawn in recent days to the possibility of a new rail viaduct at Oxford North junction, but this is still to pass through many planning hurdles and the funds found to build it.

 

What is more urgent is greater transparency by Network Rail and the rail operators about the proposed doubling of the rail traffic using this new capacity and how it intends to mitigate the noise created, especially by freight moving at night.

 

We would urge Network Rail and the other relevant parties to meet local residents and their representatives urgently to explain how they will ensure that the undoubted long-term benefits of rail expansion in North Oxford do not lead to a significantly poorer quality of life for those residents who live within a few metres of their expanded operations.

 

Sally Copley, Prospective Labour Candidate, Oxford West and Abingdon

 

Nigel Chapman, Labour candidate, St Margaret’s Ward in 2014