Traffic filters will divide Oxford into six '15 minute' neighbourhoods

Sankari

Sankari

Sankari

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Weirdest traffic management proposal I've ever heard. :confused:

ROAD blocks stopping most motorists from driving through Oxford city centre will divide the city into six "15 minute" neighbourhoods, a county council travel chief has said.

And he insisted the controversial plan would go ahead whether people liked it or not. Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for travel and development strategy, explained the authority's traffic filter proposals in an interview in The Sunday Times.

He said the filters would turn Oxford into "a 15-minute city" with local services within a small walking radius.

Mr Enright said: "It is about making sure you have the community centre which has all of those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have a 15-minute neighbourhood."

The aim is to reduce traffic in the city centre and make city living more pleasant, but critics say the plans will negatively affect businesses and the city centre's economy.

A decision will be made on November 29, and is the date for the cabinet decision. following a consultation which closed earlier this month. But Mr Enright told the Sunday Times: "It's going to happen definitely."

The new traffic filters on St Cross Road, Thames Street, Hythe Bridge Street and St Clements would operate seven days a week from 7am to 7pm. Two more filters on Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way would operate from Monday to Saturday.

People can drive freely around their own neighbourhood and can apply for a permit to drive through the filters, and into other neighbourhoods, for up to 100 days per year. This equates to an average of two days per week. The alternative is to drive out on to the ring road and then back in to the destination.

A maximum of three permits a household will be allowed where there are several adults with cars registered to the address.

Buses, coaches, taxis, delivery vans, HGVs, motorbikes and bikes are exempt and there are exceptions for blue badge holders and people with caring responsibilities.
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(Source).

Has any other city tried this?
 
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I think something new is needed to reduce car use, but its always arse about face. Chester tried to change (bus and cycle lanes on the major dual carriage ways) but the bus service is terrible, so everyone revolted. They need to invest in a GREAT public service first, and then tighten the screw on the motorist. Not the other way around.

Whether this is the solution...
 
It is like a more complicated version of the odd/even system in Paris.

Cars are garbage though tbh. It is a shame our entire built environment revolves around a big tin of nothingness except for (more often than not) one sack of organs trying to move their body from one place to another.
 
Problem with these old cities (I know Chester VERY well) is there are roads where you just can't do anything as they're not wide enough without knocking down buildings - many of which will be extremely expensive to compensate the owners for or have preservation orders on. Chester's solution seemed to just result in driving people out of the city - I go there at most twice a year now despite living only 6 miles away and its a lot quieter than it used to be 10 years ago. Far easier to shop elsewhere where the parking is free, which for me is Cheshire oaks (but not at weekends!).
 
Living in Oxford myself there is massive controversy with this.

They have already implemented LTN's (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) In a lot of places against the majorities wishes, causing a lot of unrest amongst people and neighbours.
The council invested a lot of money in rebuilding the Westgate shopping centre with a giant car park very recently and are now trying to stop the cars getting to the car park. The bus service is woeful, and mega expensive. The train service is worse as there are no stations in villages or towns to get into the City.

I can see what they are trying to do, but this isn't the solution.
 
Goksly said:
I think something new is needed to reduce car use, but its always arse about face. Chester tried to change (bus and cycle lanes on the major dual carriage ways) but the bus service is terrible, so everyone revolted. They need to invest in a GREAT public service first, and then tighten the screw on the motorist. Not the other way around.

Whether this is the solution...
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The problem with a great public transport system is that it costs money & at this point in time there's no money in the industry. Drivers are leaving in droves because of abuse from the public.

I love driving buses but even I've had enough of the abuse and have several applications for other jobs in the works.

Operating a bus is expensive so fares need to be at a level to cover those expenses and with current passenger numbers it can't be done without driving passengers away.
Here in South Yorkshire they're clamouring for buses to be taken under public control. One of the industry's leading finance manager has stated that to do that and run the services people actually want would need to add about £40 per month to EVERYONE's council tax bill, taking into consideration the number of people who don't pay CT (those on benefits) in the county. But those are that don't pay it are the majority bus users so it would go down like a lead balloon with actual CT payers.

MadMan-JaMeS said:
Living in Oxford myself there is massive controversy with this.

They have already implemented LTN's (Low Traffic Neighbourhoods) In a lot of places against the majorities wishes, causing a lot of unrest amongst people and neighbours.
The council invested a lot of money in rebuilding the Westgate shopping centre with a giant car park very recently and are now trying to stop the cars getting to the car park. The bus service is woeful, and mega expensive. The train service is worse as there are no stations in villages or towns to get into the City.

I can see what they are trying to do, but this isn't the solution.
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We've had LTNs introduced here in Sheffield. Council used planter boxes to close the roads and every single one has been vandalised/moved. One of the major issues people have is that they've been placed where they aren't needed BUT they will force traffic out of the fringe areas around the new CAZ and into the CAZ where they'll have to pay.
 
This looks and feels like a draconian method to restrict the freedom of movement. It's all well and good trying to push to non car use, but everything is built around cars. People can't pop down to B&Q for some timber on the bus and/or train.
I've been to Oxford a couple of times and they had already done a lot. We ended up having to park at a park and ride and get the bus into town. It worked well to be fair, but being a resident there locally I'm sure is a different matter.
 
This is madness - I heard someone explain it on the radio and it still sounds far to complicated for the general public and is just going to end up being another money maker
 
I am utterly fed up wih the way this country is going. It does indeed sound like a tax grab and/or a way to restrict personal movement. My kids are 16 and 18 and I am encouraging them to consider moving abroad when they are able to.

And he insisted the controversial plan would go ahead whether people liked it or not.
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Well **** you!
 
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Where I live, we have seen repeatedly that when planning applications get proposed by council and developers and the likes, they do all the box ticking and have sessions you can attend to raise concerns, petitions, ways to raise concerns etc... and then the "thing" gets built/done/implemented anyway. It literally is 99% of the time already going to go ahead anyway. Seems a broken system.
 
Goksly said:
I think something new is needed to reduce car use, but its always arse about face. Chester tried to change (bus and cycle lanes on the major dual carriage ways) but the bus service is terrible, so everyone revolted. They need to invest in a GREAT public service first, and then tighten the screw on the motorist. Not the other way around.

Whether this is the solution...
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Research actually shows that great public transport has very little effect in car journeys. Making cars massively expensive to use is the only thing that will get us out of them!
 
a1ex2001 said:
Research actually shows that great public transport has very little effect in car journeys. Making cars massively expensive to use is the only thing that will get us out of them!
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Which will likely just lead to protests eventually as modern life has made the car a necessity in reality for a lot of people - public transport or other alternative means of transport simply can't replace many journeys outside of some fanciful or short-sighted thinking by some and/or things which used to be acceptable simply no longer are.
 
a1ex2001 said:
Research actually shows that great public transport has very little effect in car journeys. Making cars massively expensive to use is the only thing that will get us out of them!
Click to expand...
So as usual, the UK will opt for the worst of both worlds. With very expensive use-costs on cars, and some god awful wallet busting public transport.
I can't see any problems coming from this at all. It's a great idea...
 
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