RESIDENTS concerned about plans to fill in a well-used subway are preparing to quiz council officials on Saturday.

Plans for Oxfordshire County Council’s next stage of the £3m London Road improvement scheme will be on show at Headington Baptist Church from 12pm.

The scheme includes plans to replace the Headington subway, which is adorned with hand-painted murals, with a pedestrian crossing.

However, a campaign to save the concrete underpass is under way after County Hall claimed it was largely under used and people awere dodging traffic to cross the road instead.

But residents who insist the subway must stay have hit back and labelled plans to fill it in a “ludicrous waste of money”.

Community campaigner Mick Haines has collected more than 1,800 names on a petition.

He said: “When they see how many people have signed, they will realise how much it means to the community.

“I have been down there most weekends, talking to people and getting names on the petition. Older people, people with buggies and those who aren’t able to walk very quickly don’t want to have to rush using a crossing.

“We all think it’s a ludicrous waste of money and don’t want the subway to go.”

Father-of-three Mike Ratcliffe, from Bickerton Road, added: “My children love the subway.

“It’s in the wrong place, you can’t deny that, but putting in a crossing would surely slow the traffic, exactly what the county council said it doesn’t want to do.”

County Hall said the London Road scheme, the first stage of which has already started, was designed to improve road safety and make bus journeys quicker and more reliable by giving them priority at traffic lights near the Co-op store.

The authority intends to revamp the main Headington shopping area and resurface pavements.

A council spokesman said: “The subway is well-used and provides a route under the road completely separate from the traffic. However, large numbers of people choose not to use the subway and instead cross the road nearby without the assistance of a crossing. The murals in the subway could be photographed and reproduced on a website.”

The first stage of work, between Pullens Lane and Osler Road, is still under way and due to be completed by May.

The next stage of the work, in Headington centre, is due to start early next year.

Plans go on show at Headington Baptist Church, Old High Street, tomorrow between noon and 8pm, and on Saturday between 10am and 3pm.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk