Sir – Ted Dewan (Letters, November 18) appears to answer my concerns (Letters, November 11) about the new ‘DIY’ Beechcroft Road by putting me in the mad-driver brigade. This won’t do.
I am not a ‘self-righteous’ driver or cyclist who needs to be taught by him ‘the normal rules of civilised social interaction’ — nor are most of us, whether on four wheels or two. The fact is that the tarmac going down a street is a highway for cars and bicycles, and Beechcroft Road is no exception.
And children will still need to be taught by parents to be careful, lest they take the wrong message from the plant pots and the pedestrian-plaza diamonds.
I am grateful to Mr Dewan for explaining in more detail how his DIY street came into existence, but this still doesn’t deal with my questions about other streets in the area.
I note that the Oxford City Council has given a grant, but I would very much doubt whether, in this era of cuts, the council (or all those other charities) would be able to help finance dozens of similar schemes.
It’s great for Mr Dewan and his fellow residents to be able to use their ‘collective determination and creativity’ to feather their own nest, but what about others who aren’t quite so pushy? Do all those other streets feel disadvantaged or not? And what about the city council’s longer-term plans resulting from this ‘pilot’?
We still need the bigger picture, so let’s hear it from the council and other residents please.
Don Manley, Oxford
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