Sir, As a resident of central Abingdon with absolutely no experience whatsoever in traffic management, I'd like to volunteer my services to the council, as surely even I can come up with a more effective solution to the current Abingdon transport problems.

The council subjected Abingdon to months of construction, and then introduced the new two-way traffic light phasing a month before they actually turned Stratton Way two-way, with the predictable outcome of constant gridlock. Now with Stratton Way operating in both directions, phase one of the Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy has clearly made a bad problem significantly worse.

So what next for the council? What contingencies do they have to correct this problem? More importantly, what research did the council actually perform to make them believe this approach was going to work?

What measurements did they base their decisions on? And are they prepared to publish results of any follow-up research to measure the success, or otherwise of their measures? Transit times, both through the town, and from journeys originating within the town, have surely increased, and what of the additional pollution contributed by the traffic sitting idling in queues?

The Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy is clearly failing. Will we have to wait until phase two is completed before we can officially declare this scheme a white elephant?

Iain Craig, Abingdon