MORE Low Traffic Neighbourhoods are gearing up to be installed throughout more parts of the city.
On Tuesday, Oxfordshire County Council, which have been rolling out the low traffic scheme, will begin its first stage of consultation for the LTNs planned for East Oxford.
Leaflets from the council were dropped around people’s houses earlier this week stating that ‘big changes’ were planned for the street layouts in the Divinity Road, St Mary’s, and St Clements areas of Oxford, to ‘make the streets safer and more pleasant for everyone’.
Read here: Local anger as council delays installation of cameras in LTN area
The council said they had been in constant communication with community members and local councillors to develop the best ways to enable people to ‘feel safer when they walk or cycle’.
LTNs work by preventing through-traffic and ‘rat-runs’ between certain streets by adding filters and boulders at specific junctions.
All streets and households are still accessible by motor vehicles, however, residents, visitors, and delivery drivers may need to change their routes.
Emergency vehicles will be informed of where the LTNs are or bollards will be foldable.
In March, several LTNs were installed throughout Church Cowley, Temple Cowley, and Florence Park.
While a number of residents have been strongly in favour of the quieter and safer streets, others have been outraged stating that their journey times have been prolonged, and weekly fuel costs have increased.
An overwhelming majority of residents, however, at the Divinity Road support the new LTN.
According to a survey conducted by The Divinity Road Area Residents Association (DRARA) between February and March this year, 83 per cent of the 446 residents who completed the survey said they supported the plans.
Seven per cent remained neutral.
Read here: Oxfordshire fire boss feared LTN route delays, emails show
There are two options for where the LTN may be placed at Divinity Road - either ‘option A’ (placing a bollard at the top of Divinity Road and Stone Street) or ‘option b’ (placing a bollard at the mid-point of Divinity Road and Southfield Road).
According to DRARA’s initial survey, 49 per cent of residents favoured option B, while 37 per cent favoured option A.
The council would not confirm that option B had been chosen, but said the information would be revealed on Tuesday when the pre-consultation begins.
The plan will be to trial the LTN in the East Oxford area for six months under an experimental traffic regulation order, as is currently happening in the Cowley area.
If all goes to plan, the council will aim to install the LTN in the Autumn of this year.
Read also: LTN didn't kill man, says ambulance service
A spokesperson for the council said; “Full details on the proposed LTNs for the Divinity Road, St Clements and St Mary’s Road will be announced when the pre-consultation goes live on Tuesday 8 June.
“The council has extensively consulted with all emergency and refuse collection services on the proposed new LTNs as statutory consultees and taken all feedback from them into consideration on the design.”
For more information visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/eastoxfordLTN
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