Having read the article in Saturday’s Oxford Mail regarding Hanson Aggregate and its A420 proposals, I am utterly disgusted with their plans.

The A420 has had many names over the years, and none of them good.

‘The Road to Hell’ is one of them.

Various improvement schemes over the years have helped, but it is still far from ideal, and a moment’s lapse in concentration often ends in dire results.

Rather than part of the road becoming a ‘Hanson highway’, the company, which has considerable resources, should build its own dedicated slip road to enable safe entry and departure, with an obligatory wheel wash for trucks leaving the site.

The needs of the 18,000 people who use this road daily far outweigh the needs of 40-odd trucks and a dozen or so employees entering and leaving the site each day. And, as it is Hanson that wants the sand from the site, it is they that should be liable for costs associated with its extraction, not the ratepayer and motorist.

One would also wish that the expenditure on any additional lighting to illuminate this hazard during the dark mornings and afternoons of winter should also be met by Hanson.

The Southmoor bypass should remain unhindered for the use of the travelling public, and not for the specific use of private enterprise.

Steve Plant Thorney Leys, Witney