HIGHWAYS staff are working through thousands of responses to its radical Connecting Oxford proposals.

The city and county councils are considering a raft of congestion-busting measures including more bus-only lanes - known as bus gates - and workplace parking charges.

Possible locations for new bus gates include Worcester Street and Marston Ferry Road.

The consultation finished on October 20 and the councils received more than 3,000 responses.

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A county council spokesman said: “The councils are currently analysing over 3,000 responses received which includes over 10,000 comments.

“This feedback will be reported to county and city cabinets in January 2020, when a decision about the next steps will be made.”

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The spokesman added that the proposals presented in Connecting Oxford were at a ‘relatively early stage’ with a detailed feasibility study needed to assess the benefits and potential impacts.

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He added: “The councils engaged with the public and other stakeholders to enable them to decide whether to take the project forward.

"The feasibility study work would include modelling to look at how ‘bus gates’ would reduce congestion, improve public transport and improve air quality, along with the possibility of displacing traffic.

“Only once this work was done would the councils publish detailed proposals and carry out a full formal consultation with residents and other stakeholders.”

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The Bus Users Oxford lobby group suggested there should be more bus gates deployed than the additional ones suggested by the councils.

It suggested locations including Donnington Bridge Road to restrict traffic between Abingdon Road and Iffley Road and Hayfield Road, north Oxford, to create a bus link between Walton Street and Frenchay Road.