An Oxford city councillor has criticised a delay in improving road safety in Headington after a teenager was knocked down on her way to school.

Stephen Tall said plans to expand the nearby NHS hospitals and build a private hospital on Oxford United's old home at the Manor Ground meant it was unacceptable to wait until 2004 for a crossing in Headley Way, as the county council had suggested.

Last week, Emma Dibdin, 14, was hit by a car as she crossed the road to get to Headington Senior School. She was thrown onto the windscreen and suffered cuts and bruises.

The county council is reviewing road safety as part of its Headington and Marston Area Transport Strategy (Hamats).

Seventeen pedestrian crossings are planned for the area, including three in Headley Way, but county council transport officer James Gagg said they were unlikely to be built until 2004/5.

Speaking at the city council's north east area committee meeting on November 19, Headington councillor Mr Tall said: "A pedestrian crossing has long been promised for Headley Way. It's needed now, not in a few years' time. This is a route used by hundreds of children every day.

"Put simply, Hamats is no more than a sticking plaster solution. It completely fails to take into account the inevitable increase in traffic there will be in the next few years due to the expansion of the Headington hospitals.

"We need a proper strategy which looks ahead 25 years and accepts the basic fact that more people will be driving into Headington because of the new hospital facilities."

He urged the committee to demand faster action from the county council.

Members, however, decided against lodging their views before public consultation on the strategy in January.

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