Businesses concerned over three-month road works

Businesses have expressed concerns over how planned three-month long works on a major Oxford road will damage their trade due to gridlock and low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).

Work on stretches of Cowley Road, between Union Street and Divinity Road, is scheduled to start on Monday and last until 11 April.

Some people have called for the county council to consider reopening LTNs and disabling automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in East Oxford to help reduce traffic, while a campaign group has called for small businesses to be listened to.

Oxfordshire County Council said LTNs and ANPR cameras will not be disabled because the works are part of a footway maintenance scheme.

Jenny Wells, a mobile hairdresser based in East Oxford, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The three-month road works in Cowley Road are going to cause major disruption and traffic gridlock on an already congested road.

"When Donnington Bridge was closed recently, it was like rush hour all day long.

"I feel when roadworks take place, the council needs to open up the LTNs and [disable] ANPR cameras to ease traffic congestion."

Summer Cai, manager of a Chinese restaurant and takeaway on Cowley Road, said her business has "had enough" of LTNs, and that the traffic measures had made things worse for businesses on Cowley Road.

Bernadette Evans, from the Oxford Business Action Group, said: "There should always be a 'high street first' policy when the council plans roadworks.

"Businesses need every single customer.

"Owners know their own high street best and these decisions should be made by the businesses themselves in a bottom up, not top down way."

A spokesman for the council said: "We will suspend parking bays when we are working within the vicinity of the bays and keep durations to a minimum.

"Some cycle racks will be affected by the footway works but will be returned as soon as viable.

"The work is to address damaged paving and drainage concerns that now requires extensive repair in order to maintain a safe environment."

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