CHANGES to Oxfordshire's roads to make them safer for cyclists and pedestrians, funded by £597,000 from the government, are about to begin.

The near £600,000 of funding comes from the government's emergency active travel fund, which is designed to encourage people to get on bikes or walk to work after the lockdown.

It is hoped that encouraging 'active travel' will help to keep the numbers of people using public transport down, and prevent coronavirus from spreading in enclosed spaces.

The funding is set to be spent over the summer in Oxfordshire.

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Yvonne Constance, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for environment said: “This funding will allow Oxfordshire to build on the great enthusiasm we have seen from our residents for walking and cycling as well as the plans we already have to upgrade active travel amid growth across the county."

Ms Constance added: “We have a real opportunity here to make a difference; we want to transform the way Oxfordshire residents travel and this funding will enable us to make our county into a place where many more journeys are made by cyclists, who feel safer, and pedestrians, who have improved paths, and where communities and the workplace are connected for a more sustainable future.”

The fast-track plans are the first part of a wider £2.9 million of funding to be awarded to Oxfordshire County Council by the Government to improve cycling infrastructure, parts of the road network and footpaths in response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

Over the summer the focus will be on improving pavements and cycle routes, new bike parking facilities in the county's market towns and Oxford, changing traffic signal timings to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists, and restricting delivery times in some city centre streets.

There are also plans to make more room to lock up bikes at park and rides and to pedestrianise some areas.

The first phase of funding will be followed by a further £2.38 million for Oxfordshire.

This will be used to pay for long-term changes to reduce the number of cars on the roads, including plans already in the offing for 'bus gates' in Oxford.

These will be placed on some routes into the city centre, and drivers not behind the wheel of public transport will be fined for passing through them.

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Across Oxfordshire, plans under consideration include 20mph speed limits, school streets, improved cycle paths and secure cycle parking in towns and villages.

For both tranches of funding, priorities have been based on a series of suggestions from Oxfordshire's 63 county councillors.

But there has been debate on Twitter between county councillors and Oxford city councillors about how the funding was prioritised.

Tory county councillor Liam Walker said his council wanted to spend the funding across the county, while Labour city councillor Linda Smith said areas where high numbers of traffic accidents - like Oxford and Banbury - should be prioritised.

Oxford's cycling lobby has been supportive of the plans, and wrote to the county council to consider expanding on them.

A group of organisations, including the XR Oxford and Cyclox, said more cycle hire was needed at park and rides around the city, as well as widened pavements and more segregated cycle lanes.

Oxford University has also called on the county council to prioritise what it called 'park and pedal' measures.

This would allow 5,000 members of university staff due to return to commuting this summer to leave their cars at park and rides around the city, then finish their trip by bike.