CONTROVERSIAL changes to road layouts to slow down traffic in Headington are set to be agreed this week.

Council chiefs hope the plans will make it easier for people to walk and cycle in the Old Road area, close to Oxford Brookes University.

This should cut down car use, Oxfordshire County Council said.

Under the plans, a cycle lane will be added to the south side of Old Road between the junction of Gipsy Lane and Windmill Road.

Pavement cycle lanes will be added on part of Old Road, near the junction with Windmill Road, where three pedestrian crossings over the roundabout will be installed.

A zebra crossing will be installed by Old Road’s junction with Stapleton Road and the centre line road markings will be removed from Old Road in a bid to slow down cars.

The road will be raised at nine junctions including the junction of Lime Walk and Old Road. A raised junction will go at the cross roads of All Saints Road and Lime Walk.

Proposals to ban right turns from London Road and Old Road, and to close Old Saints Road at Barrington Close have been scrapped.

Moves to rearrange parking on Latimer, Stapleton and Bickerton roads will also not go ahead More than 20,000 vehicles use the junction of Windmill Road and The Slade junction during a 12-hour peak period along with 1,400 cycles.

But Patrick Coulter, spokesman for the Highfield Residents’ Association, said the plans do not go far enough.

He said: “What we really want here is speed reduction.

“We are not opposed to these plans, things like the cycle improvements are good things for the area. But in this area, it is speed that’s the problem.”

Mary Hope, chairman of the New Headington Residents’ Association, which campaigned against the right turn ban for London Road, said: “The residents are relieved. It would have caused tremendous upset.”

The plans would also link in with a proposed cycle lane along The Slade and the northern part of Horspath Driftway.

Most of the cash for £220,000 scheme will come from a cash pot of contributions made by developers when given permission for city schemes.

Councillors will be asked to approve the scheme at a meeting on Thursday.

Steve Howell, deputy director of environment and economy for highways and transport, said the plans “create improved conditions for walking and cycling links to the city centre”.