A footway on a road in central Oxford which was closed for more than a year due to safety concerns has finally reopened.

Two sets of listed walls in Abingdon Road were considered dangerous to the public in October last year, resulting in the pavement they are on being closed ever since.

A complex collaboration between Holy Rood Church, as well as the city and county councils, had to occur in order to complete the work, one of various reasons for the delay.

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Anna Railton, deputy leader of Oxford City Council, said: “It genuinely has been a fairly ridiculous saga." 

One of the walls is owned by Holy Rood Church, the other by Oxfordshire County Council, and both are listed structures which means planning permission from the city council is required to complete repairs.

On top of that, one of the pieces of wall had ivy growing over it, so required a bat survey before the plant could be removed.

The works could also only be carried out at certain times of year due to the type of lime mortar used in the historical wall structures.

The footway on Abingdon Road was closed for more than a year.The footway on Abingdon Road was closed for more than a year. (Image: Rick Tanner)

“It just went on and on and on,” said Ms Railton.

“I’m glad they’ve been fixed, and they’ve been fixed properly, and with the proper heritage materials.

“But it has been a bit of a journey, and I think everyone is pleased to have two sides of Abingdon Road to walk on now, instead of just one." 

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The walls on the major road are Grade II listed, dating to the 18th century and built overlying a Saxon or early Norman causeway.

Ms Railton kept locals informed with a series of Facebook posts explaining reasons behind the delay in reopening the footway.

Commenters seemed to appreciate the updates, even if they were surprised by the difficulties.

One comment said “thanks for the update, Anna. Quite surreal,” while another punned on the presence of protected bats in the ivy saying “this is totally batty”.

Ms Railton explained: “Most people were intrigued to see the backstory, that instead of just endless roadworks there was a reason.

“A large part of our job is telling people the reasons behind the things they see going on, and people are a bit more accepting if they actually understand what is happening." 

Residents were clearly pleased to have access to the footpath back and the councillor was surprised to find that her celebratory post at the end of the works received more than 60 likes on Facebook.

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