Oxford city sign is ripped down the day it goes up

The sign on the Eastern Bypass near Littlemore had a makeover on Sunday after one householder decided to give their own interpretation for the twinning list.

Leiden, Bonn, Leon, Grenoble, Wroclaw, Ramallah and Padua are all cities written on the original sign.

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But the new version stated: "Twinned with - affordable housing, free-flowing traffic, zero rough sleepers, low retail rental and safe cycling.

A new tongue-in-cheek sign was put up. (Image: Contribution)

"And then Alice awoke to find that it was all a dream!"

The person responsible for the sign, who did not wish to be named, said: "You might think I was disappointed to see the sign broken, given the level of planning involved in such a project, but quite the opposite, in fact.

"For somebody to react so violently makes me feel that my project was an unarguable success.

"Of course, there’s a satirical, tongue-in-cheek element to the sign’s content. 

"However, there are also serious issues to confront regarding Oxford as well as many other large cities in the UK, given that our population is expected to grow by another seven million in the next 10 years.

"And as the numbers grow, there will be more stress on the housing or rental sector and a growth in car ownership. 

"We have to wrestle back control of public transport from private ownership and make it cheap to travel by bus and train, even if it means raising taxes to achieve this goal.

"The council and citizens have to come together in order to find a way to maintain social cohesion and keep the city functioning fluidly."

Oxford city centre. (Image: Ed Nix)

An Oxford City council spokesman confirmed its company Oxford Direct Services (ODS) investigated the incident.

He added: "The sign had already been broken and ODS cleared away the pieces.

"They are checking other similar signs.

"Oxford needs homes and in particular we need affordable homes.

Many vehicles pass the sign each day. (Image: Contribution)

"Working with housing associations and our housing company OX Place, we are on track to deliver a four-year programme of 1,600 affordable homes by the end of 2025/26.

"OX Place is also set to deliver a new generation of more than 1,100 much-needed council homes by the end of this decade."

The sign makeup artist added: "It would also help if the government allowed local authorities more autonomy and fiscal powers instead of continuing the same old centralised form of power emanating from Westminster.

"We all want the same thing - a healthy, functioning city, but the real battle lies in getting everybody to agree on the same thing."

It's not the first time a sign has been defaced in the city. 

In 2022, the sign leading into Blackbird Leys was edited to remove 'cycling city' which was replaced with 'one month, two dead cyclists'.