20mph zone 'not needed' (From thisisoxfordshire)

20mph zone 'not needed'

6:14pm Thursday 13th November 2008 in

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Villagers have said a county council idea to convert roads to 20 mph zones across Oxford is “totally unnecessary”.

Oxfordshire County Council’s proposals to introduce its almost city-wide 20mph limit to built up areas outside Oxford have received short shrift from councillors in North Hinksey and Cumnor.

And proposals to convert West Way – west of the Botley Road – to 20mph have been singled out for criticism as the road is a main route for motorists accessing the city from Botley, Cumnor, Farmoor and Eynsham.

The criticism comes two weeks after it was revealed that two thirds of almost 1,000 people surveyed by the council were in favour of 20mph limits on residential roads and some sections of A and B roads.

Chairman of North Hinksey Parish Council Briony Newport said: “I'm against the plans. We're a very hilly area, so the conditions wouldn’t be good for us to stick to 20mph.

“I’m against our residential roads being made 20mph and I’m against a blanket 20mph approach. It is totally unnecessary.”

Mrs Newport said she could see a case for the 20mph limit in Westminster Way, North Hinksey Lane and Harcourt Hill.

She added: “I can see the reason for doing it on rat run roads, but they want to make West Way 20mph. Why? Half the time we can’t even move because it’s congested but it is an arterial road outside the city. Why should it change?”

“When a vehicle comes out of Oxford off the Botley Road it should continue at 30mph.”

Under the new proposals, motorists would have to slow down from 40mph to 20mph for less than a mile at the bottom of Cumnor Hill and West Way before moving into a 30mph zone on Botley Road.

Cumnor parish councillor Harry Dickinson said: “We’re wholly opposed to making Cumnor Hill 20mph. It isn’t like central Oxford where there’s lots of pedestrian traffic and cyclists .

“People cycling down the hill would be against it too as a lot of them go faster than 20mph.

“With West Way we have got two sets of traffic lights on the road and a pedestrian crossing. It would be confusing to go from 30mph on Botley Road, to 20mph, then 40mph.

“The only part of the area I’d like to see at 20mph is around the Pinnocks Way estate.

“It is a fairly narrow road and there’s always cars parked on both sides. It is the unsafest road in the whole of the parish.”

The chairman of Cumnor Parish Council, Dr Philip Hawtin, said: “There doesn’t seem much point spending money on plenty of new speed limit signs to solve a problem that we don’t actually have.”

County council cabinet member for transport Ian Hudspeth said: “I am well aware of the feelings of both parishes and we have taken them into account as part of the consultation.

“We can’t rule either of them out or either of them in at the moment.

“We’re trying to make the scheme as simple as possible for everyone concerned and ensure drivers can see the logic behind the scheme and therefore participate with self-regulation rather than hard enforcement.”

The council is due to launch its formal consultation on 20mph limits in January.