Trades people

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What is happening in OX4?

The county council is trialling 3 “low-traffic neighbourhoods” or LTNs in Temple Cowley, Florence Park and Church Cowley. Image 1 below shows points of ingress/egress from each area of the 3 LTNs.

Image 1

Blue diamonds indicate point-closures. Colours and arrows indicate entry/exit.

Image 2

Green doors indicate point-closures. Green bus indicates bus/taxi access only. Arrows indicate entry/exit.

What’s an LTN?

An LTN prevents these neighbourhoods from being used as short-cuts for through-traffic. Studies show that this also helps encourage residents to do short trips by foot or cycle, where possible. Most neighbourhoods in OX4 have been LTNs for decades; it’s these three and a few others that have been open to short-cutting traffic — which has grown with the advent of Waze and Google Maps. We’ve tried for years to get them to stop recommending these routes, to no avail. 

Doesn’t this just push the problem elsewhere?

This is the overriding concern. Luckily, experience shows that it doesn’t necessarily happen. The St Peters LTN scheme in Islington and Railton LTN scheme in Lambeth both saw traffic on perimeter roads decline overall after six months of the trial. It’s about enabling people to make the choice not to drive — leaving room on the roads for those who genuinely need it (including trades people).

What about tradespeople? 

Tradespeople are serving these communities, not cutting through them. So we can understand any frustration you feel. We won’t know the traffic patterns until everything settles. We expect that the reduced traffic on the smaller neighbourhood roads will lessen, making maneuvering larger vehicles less stressful.  

Categories: Trades