1 ANNEX 4a – Email Responses RESPONDENT VIEW COMMENTS Key Stakeholders/Groups I accept this junction has been closed for a number of weeks due to road maintenance, however any longer- term proposal to restrict vehicular traffic is NOT supported. 1. Emergency response times for ALL Emergency services to this area will increase and detrimental to public Thames Valley Police Object safety. 2. Walton Street is currently a defined Diversion route for Blue light services and other vehicles during closures of St Giles. Alternative Diversions much longer and detrimental in terms of Emergency response to North Oxford. Can see this would be beneficial to the residents of Walton street, I do have some concerns regarding Emergency access. Since the current closure has been in place, we have attended quite a few minor incidents, and the only Fire & Rescue Service, access has been via St Giles and little clarendon street or St Margret’s road for the Hydraulic Platform (due (Rewley Road & Slade Concerns to the size and amount of swing on the vehicle) Park White Watch) Whilst I am not opposed to a temporary traffic closure trial myself, I would personally like the ability to access via a transponder and a bollard or some other mechanism that we could breach? Obviously, a sign would do the same, but would state only emergency vehicles have access. During the current road closures on Walton Street, our appliances have been significantly delayed in attending properties down Walton Street and the surrounding side roads/Port Meadow because of high traffic levels, tight roads for the diversion and the length of time it takes us to get to suitable diversion routes that are listed in the consultation map. Fire & Rescue Service, (Rewley Road Blue Concerns The side roads to access Walton Street from the Woodstock road are often quite tight with parked vehicles Watch) either side which slows us down impeding our progress. This has occurred on several occasions since Walton Street has been closed for the works and our delay in getting to incidents has been noticeable amongst the crew and for property owners/residents down Walton street including University premises. Page 1 2 I’m concerned that a permanent closure of this junction would cause more traffic along the diversion routes and cause more of a delay to us responding to incidents than it already has done. Whilst I agree with why the Highways team may want to implement this change and think it may provide some benefits, I think some thought needs to be given to Emergency access. Maybe if they want to implement the Junction closure then we could still have some sort of emergency access at this junction? A bit like the barriers that go up and down at Cornmarket or King Edward Street in Oxford or something similar? A solution like this would resolve our concerns. Bus Users Oxford has long been concerned at congestion in Beaumont Street, which can be almost at a standstill for long periods, including off-peak. Has the County Council recorded any change in congestion while Walton Street has been closed? PickMeUp: Within the last year Oxford Bus Co has extended its PickMeUp demand responsive minibus service to Jericho. Anyone who has a smartphone can download the PickMeUp app and book this service. People with disabilities are a significant part of PickMeUp's customer base. Some elderly people also use PickMeUp if they have smartphones and are confident to use them. Popular PickMeUp destinations include the city centre and Oxford railway station. Closing Walton Street would restrict PickMeUp minibus access to Jericho, increase journey distances and hence congestion and emissions. Bus Users Oxford therefore recommends allowing PickMeUp vehicles to continue to use Walton Bus Users Oxford Concerns Street as a through route. Scheduled buses: Not all disabled or elderly people have smartphones or are confident to use them. And some cannot afford taxis or private hire services. For them the only affordable transport may be buses. Walton Street and Jericho used to have a bus service: route 17 by day and route 17A in the evening. Both services were lost when OCC withdrew all bus subsidies in July 2016. BU Oxford would like a bus service restored to Walton Street and Jericho. At present no operator is willing to try this commercially. However, we suggest that any traffic restriction in Walton Street should leave open the possibility to restore a bus route. Preserving Walton Street as a through route for PickMeUp vehicles would have the advantage of ensuring future access for any future bus service without the need for future alterations to road infrastructure. Page 2 3 Some supporters of walking and cycling are very anti-bus. Once all motor traffic has been excluded from a road they vehemently oppose any proposal to restore even a limited bus service to that road. Were all motor traffic excluded from Walton Street, a future proposal for a bus service might meet vehement opposition even if there were no physical barrier to it. Therefore it is important to restore some through traffic to Walton Street, even if it is limited to PickMeUp minibuses, taxis and private hire vehicles. Walking distances: Please bear in mind the long walking distances from some parts of Jericho to bus stops on Woodstock Road. From, for example, St Barnabas Street to the bus stops outside the old Radcliffe Infirmary is about 900 or 1,000 metres. The DfT's Inclusive Mobility guidelines (Section 2.4, page 24) recommend providing bus stops within 400 metres of people's homes. And it adds that many people who are elderly or have impaired mobility are unlikely to walk more than 200 metres for a bus. Walton Street is within 400 metres' walk of much of Jericho. A bus service along Walton Street would do much to mitigate Jericho's poor access to public transport. OXTRAG has no objection to the proposal. However the comments made by the local people must be OXTRAG No objection carefully considered. Also, when the St Giles’ Fair is on each year with St Giles' closed, Walton St would have to be re-opened for those 3 days. I would like you to record my support for the Experimental Prohibition, based on the many instances of positive feedback from local residents since the enforced road closure. I would also like the County Council to use this as a opportunity to review the impacts on the streets between Cllr Hollingsworth Support Walton Street/Kingston Road and Woodstock Road – specifically Little Clarendon Street, Observatory Street, St Bernards Road, Leckford Road, Farndon Place and St Margarets Road – to see if any adjustments to the design and/or flows of traffic on those streets would be beneficial if the Walton Street closure were to be made permanent. We support this proposal. This proposal will :- • Reduce motor vehicle traffic/rat running along Walton St, so making a better environment for residents, businesses and their customers. Cycling UK Support • It will improve conditions for people walking/cycling along Walton St. • It will improve air quality along Walton St. • It will be good to have a trial run of a low traffic neighbourhood, prior to others low traffic neighbourhoods being rolled out as part of Connecting Oxford. Page 3 4 The effectiveness of the closure point will depend on the details. It needs to look like a closure, while being accessible (I assume) to emergency vehicles. As a cost effective option, I'd suggest painting the road surface in the same paint as recently used on the Cowley Road works. We are strongly in support of this proposal. We are delighted that you are also using the term Low Traffic Neighbourhood to describe this proposal as this is just what it will produce. Before the closure many vehicles used the road as a rat run, including large commercial vehicles. The road closure has created a road which is pleasant to walk and cycle along, whereas before both had to contend with motor vehicles which travel at speed making the environment feel unsafe. Clearly there isn’t yet enough detail to assess how vehicles (particularly mopeds) will be prevented from entering or leaving Walton St, ignoring the traffic restriction. If it doesn’t "look" like a road, then people will be less likely to drive through it. If it looks like a road that is closed, then some people will simply ignore the closure as we have seen at the west end of Broad St and Turl St. Having a sign that shows what is prohibited helps in this regard. We do recognise the importance though ofemergency vehicles access which may prevent such designs. The proposals will encourage more walking and cycling, and will improve air quality, all of which will improve Cyclox Support health and wellbeing. Walton Street north of Little Clarendon Street is part of the National Cycle Route 5 and this proposal will result in fewer motor vehicles on the NCN5 route which will be welcomed by all who use the NCN. The route continues to Hayfield Road and Bainton Road which are already quiet roads, so this plan will enhance the whole length of the route from Little Clarendon St and the north end of Bainton Road. There is always the concern that removal of through traffic will be bad for business. Studies show that investment in better streets and places delivers quantifiable commercial returns. Businesses, residents, developers and visitors all benefit from investment in the public realm which creates more opportunities for walking and cycling. So this proposal will be good for local retailers and restaurants as there will be much more footfall in the street as a result of the closure.