I am writing to you to express my dismay at the proposed bus gates.  

I am very concerned that, by effectively blocking off Hollow Way, Marston Ferry Link Road, St Clements etc, the county council is using draconian methods to ‘solve’ a perceived traffic problem in a city it seems to care little about.

The people of Oxford do not want to be dictated to in this way: our lives have already been made the poorer by the implementation of the LTNs, with much more traffic on arterial roads.

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I live in a road which at the moment has three wooden road blocks at the end of it.

This has, of course, made our road quieter, but it was never particularly busy in the first place. We enjoyed the possibility of having four or five different exit possibilities from our road. Now we have only one.

Most of our friends live on the opposite side of the LTNs, which is extremely inconvenient for us all.  

The introduction of the traffic filters will greatly increase our misery.

I understand the idea is to have 15-minute neighbourhoods: useful for day to day shopping or visiting the doctor.

However, totally impractical for most other modern lifestyle needs. For example, it is a crazy idea to imagine that we can have all the facilities we need within a few minutes' walk and without having to use our car.

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The hospitals are all based in Headington, and I see no proposals for another John Radcliffe, Churchill or Nuffield Hospital for Cowley Road. We don't 'need' to visit museums and theatres. Nor do we 'need' to visit our friends or restaurants or specialist shops in other areas of the city.

But such activities are necessary, and good for our mental health, and that is why we live in a city.  

Rest assured we all want to live happy and healthy lives, but we really don't need the inconvenience and misery caused by this high-handed interfering with city life.   

Elaine Tilley

Oxford