Last night there was a public meeting at the Guildhall to listen to, and ask questions of the Councillor in charge of Oxfordshire's roads - and his advisers. The first phase of the new town centre traffic system (AbITS) was put in last year and people at the meeting, although polite, had very strong opinions. It has not worked as people were told it would during the public consultation, three years ago, when 64% of people were in favour of the scheme.
There was still a lot of animated discussion on the way out.
There were many points made during the meeting but to summarise for people who didn't go and who are interested: town centre businesses were suffering loss of trade, some journeys were taking much longer (coming home from Culham...), some turnings were difficult (out of West St Helen Street, right from the brewery, from New Street). In response the County Councillor said that, local councils (Vale and Town), and the chamber of commerce, and local people had agreed to the scheme. It was also said that more changes were to be discussed next week at the AbITs steering group: to get the SCOOT system working better (move Bridge Street lights nearer town), to put in better signage to get more people using the peripheral road and Stratton Way southbound, to introduce a straight-on filter at the Stratton Way / Ock Street junction, to discuss the details of changes to Stert Street, etc. etc. This meeting is on 28th June at 2 PM in the Guildhall.
