Changes are to be made to the road junction near Oxford Station after key parts of the £20m Oxford Transport Strategy were branded a failure.

The county council admitted the new station square was causing delays after engineers studied traffic flow in Botley Road, Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street.

Adjustments will now be made to signalling and road markings next month. Pele Bhamber, OTS and parking manager for the county council, said the left turn from Hythe Bridge Street would be altered and a short length of bus lane introduced in Park End Street.

The controversial OTS was introduced in June and heralded by county chief executive John Harwood as a "great day for Oxford and a great day for pedestrians". But the area around station square has come in for severe criticism.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, Conservative group leader, said: "I welcome the admission from the county council that the station square junction is a mess. "I am amazed it has taken teams of consultants and engineers to realise there are serious problems in the area. They could have saved a lot of time and taxpayers' money by simply asking road users.

"Since the scheme was introduced, cyclists have found the junction more dangerous and car and bus users have ended up stuck in traffic."

A week after the changes were introduced, publishing boss Julian Blackwell said Hythe Bridge Street, where his firm has its headquarters, had become the most polluted in the city.

Story date: Monday 18 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.