A MEDIEVAL village in the Oxfordshire countryside is under threat from speeding traffic and heavy goods vehicles.

Cuxham is a small village of under 50 homes near Watlington and Chalgrove and its vulnerable listed houses are under threat.

The village has only one narrow B road, B480, and many of the old houses have no foundations and are located at the edge of the road with no pavement.

Cuxham has problems with speeding cars and now residents are concerned construction vehicles will be passing through the area and putting the medieval village at risk.

Oxford Mail:

Cuxham resident Rod Macrae said: “Thatched roofs are frequently clipped, and one house lost its wall because of vibrations in the recent past.”

A housing developer has submitted plans to build 183 homes in Britwell Road, Watlington and residents in Cuxham are worried the construction vehicles will be damaging to their homes.

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Mr Macrae explained that there are plans to allow construction vehicles for the major local housing development to use the main village road as a route for heavy goods vehicles.

Ian Goldsmith, Chair of the parish meeting said seven years ago the wall of a house collapsed because of vibrations and he does not think construction vehicles should be near the listed buildings.

Oxford Mail:

He said: “Heavy good vehicles should not be coming down here at all, so that the decision to identify this as the sole construction traffic route does not at all seem sensible and safe.”

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Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) will responsible for routing the traffic. OCC said: “With any application of this type we would be involved in both the determination and implementation of the schemes should South Oxfordshire District Council approve the application. This will involve the routing of traffic to and from the development.”

Oxford Mail:

Villagers are also worried about the increasing amount of speeding traffic passing through Cuxham and recently residents raised £1,400 to buy speeding signs.

After persistence from the villagers, last week the county council approved to put the poles in for the speeding signs.

Mr Goldsmith said: “We have had a good degree of frustration getting the council to agree to them, bearing in mind we are not asking them to pay for them.”

OCC said: “In consultation with the parish council, two locations - one at each end of the village - have been identified for mobile speed indication devices.

“This is a project involving a number of parish councils in the area who will be sharing the cost and moving the devices around on a rota basis. This project should be operational within the next couple of months and, when deployed, the devices should be effective in reducing speeds.”