PLANS for buses to make U-turns at one of Oxford's busiest junctions are dangerous and could cause traffic chaos, it is claimed.

Bus chiefs said suggestions to use Frideswide Square – outside the railway station – were 'not practical' and could even be unsafe.

The change is proposed by Oxfordshire County Council to compensate for the trial closure of Queen Street in October, timed to coincide with the reopening of the Westgate Shopping Centre.

But Oxford Bus Company boss Phil Southall, pictured below, warned: "We have tested at Frideswide Square but believe it will be unsafe.

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"We are talking about having to do that kind of manoeuvre 30 times an hour.

"If traffic is queuing there, it will also build up at the next roundabout – so the whole area will snarl up."

Martin Sutton, boss of Stagecoach Oxfordshire, said: "We are living in la-la land if we think that there is an easy solution to removing buses from Queen Street."

The two managing directors stressed the need for a new plan for the city centre setting out in detail where buses would be allowed to go in future.

Council bosses insist a city centre plan already exists – the Oxford Transport Strategy – but bus companies say it does not address their concerns.

Officials have seven months to come up with an alternative route for buses.

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  • Queen Street, above, is due to be closed to traffic before the Westgate reopens

This is because a traffic regulation order to close the road must legally be advertised 56 days before it comes into force, with bus companies also required to give the Traffic Commissioner 56 days notice of new routes.

It means a decision must be made by mid-August at the latest.

The scramble to find a solution is due to opposition from Nuffield College, which objected to original plans for a bus turning circle on the corner of Worcester Street and New Road.

County council leader Ian Hudspeth, pictured below, admitted that proposal could now be 'dead in the water'.

He added: "We haven't ruled anything out yet but we now have to look at what other options are around and what impact they could have.

"Frideswide Square is a possible option, or buses could use the Worcester Street island site as a big turning circle, going round Worcester Street and Hythe Bridge Street.

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"Another possible option is for buses to turn at Oxpens and then go back up St Aldate's."

Mr Hudspeth said the county council was staging talks with the bus companies, shopping centre bosses Westgate Oxford Alliance and Oxford City Council.

Oxford transport expert Hugh Jaeger, a director of Bus Users UK, said: "None of the options sound as good as keeping Queen Street open to buses."

A county council spokesman said it 'recognised' the bus network was vital to Oxford but added: "However, important as they are, buses – like all motorised vehicles – have an environmental impact and the council has acted to address this.

"We have long had an ongoing open and honest dialogue with Oxfordshire’s bus companies and over the years their ideas and thoughts have a long track record of being taken in to account in transport planning matters.

"That will continue on this particular topic and others."