A PEDESTRIANS’ campaigner wants part of a major city road paved over and turned into a square.

Sushila Dhall, of Oxford Pedestrians Association, wants to see half of St Giles ‘reclaimed’ for walkers, with traffic confined to what is now the outbound lane.

The lane that leads towards the Martyrs’ Memorial would become a pedestrian area.

Ms Dhall said: “My vision is that we could extend the pavement from St John’s College right along to the refuge in the middle of the road.

“Pedestrians could walk all the way from the Martyrs’ Memorial to St Giles’ Church and people could appreciate what could be the most amazing square in Oxford.”

Ms Dhall is the prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party for the Oxford East seat, held by Labour’s Andrew Smith. The former city and county councillor wants to meet county council leader Ian Hudspeth to discuss the idea.

Plans to pedestrianise Queen Street, Castle Street and Broad Street by 2014 were put forward by Oxfordshire County Council in 2011.

These plans were dropped because of financial pressures and the council said at the time it was unlikely to happen in the short to medium term. Graham Jones of city centre traders’ association ROX said: “In the right location, pedestrianisation can be a very positive thing for cities.

“But St Giles is a major highway and we need access into Oxford otherwise people will just avoid the city.”

Ms Dhall believes it would help control traffic and provide access to the St Giles toilets.

The historic toilets, built in 1895, were closed more than three years ago and Oxford City Council has said they will never reopen because they are in the middle of a busy road with no crossing.

In April, Thames Valley Police monitored 20mph zones such as St Giles and found that one in five drivers were flouting the speed limit.

County council spokesman Paul Smith said: “The council does not have the funds to do anything on this scale.”