Sir - The proposal to create a 20mph zone on the Banbury Road between Lonsdale Road and Diamond Place is a welcome move to improve safety in this busy area.

The decision to include three minor roads on the east side is a sensible extension of the zone.

However, a more radical proposal would have been to extend the zone southwards to the Moreton Road traffic lights (a section that has shops, surgeries, a hotel and a nursing home) and include the roads on the west side in the zone. Two of the side roads in the area bounded by Beechcroft Road, Woodstock Road and Squitchey Lane already have an advisory speed limit of 20mph and all of them within this boundary would qualify for a mandatory 20mph limit under the new design guidelines published by the Government.

The aim of the guidelines is to create within specified areas a traffic environment which is safer and more comfortable for residents and shoppers; think how, for example, South Parade with its shops, cafés, library and schools would benefit, not to mention Beechcroft Road which has been campaigning for a 20mph limit for some years. Given the authority of these new guidelines, I believe that the time is ripe for a bolder, more ambitious approach than the one adopted by the county council. This is an opportunity for our councillors to demonstrate that they are serious about improving the safety and quality of life of residents in busy urban areas.

I urge people in Summertown to make their views known so that the chance to include side roads is not lost here, as it was in the recent redesign of the Cowley Road.

Gordon Balme, Oxford