A Bicester woman urgently wants a footpath to be built along a popular walking route in the town.

Joanne Barrow says a gap in the pavement next to the A41 Oxford Road roundabout on the edge of town near Bicester Shopping Park needs to be filled in.

The break in the path is between Bicester Services and Bicester Shopping Park meaning people walking to the new shops - which opened this year - have to step on muddy ground.

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Mrs Barrow said: “We are all working towards being greener and healthier, and there is pavement most of the way from town to this new development.

“However, there is a break in this pavement, becoming a muddy path between the filling station and the development.

“Pedestrians need to either tread carefully across the well-trodden grassed path or cross a large roundabout and back over the major road.”

She sent an email to Bicester councillors as well as North Oxfordshire MP Victoria Prentis complaining about the problem.

She added: “The infrastructure is all in place for vehicles, but for people to walk to this development the journey is not safe.

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“There is so much that Oxfordshire can and should be proud of, but I am sorry to say that when it comes to the “little picture”, so often there are crucial pieces missing. Pieces which are critical to the health, safety and wellbeing of people.”

Oxford Mail:

Councillor Ian Hudspeth responded saying the path will be delivered by developer Euro Garages as part of the revamp of Bicester services which was approved by Cherwell last year.

Euro garages says the path has been delayed because the county council has asked it to make changes to the design.

It told Mrs Barrow: “As part of our planning permission we were obliged to deliver a two-metre-wide footpath. However, there have been some delays as the county council have asked whether we would be prepared to upgrade this to a three-metre-wide path to accommodate a safe cycle path.

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“We have agreed to do this in principle but we have to go through a regulated process under S278 of the Highways Act to build this. This means we have to submit various drawings and legal paperwork and have these agreed with the county council before we can start to build the new path.”

Oxford Mail:

The company has met with the council and agreed a final layout, but does not yet have an exact date for when these works will start.