Oxford News
Oxfordshire Greens lobby Government for £20bn roads reset
North and West Oxfordshire politicians penned the letter to transport minister Heidi Alexander, who incidentally was a victim of one of Oxfordshire’s potholes last month.
The detailed proposals ask for a £20bn investment in repairs and reinstatement of roads across the country, and particularly in Oxfordshire.
The councillors have made the case that the recently announced additional funding for tackling potholes is not enough overall and the share that Oxfordshire will receive will not be sufficient.
Councillors have also invited Ms Alexander to visit Oxfordshire to see for herself the state of Oxfordshire’s roads, not just on the B4437 outside Burford which punctured a tyre of her Mini.
Green group county and Cherwell district leader Ian Middleton said: “After years of neglect and underfunding by successive governments, we now need definitive action and proper funding to deal with the state of our roads and footpaths.
“Government financial input to the County budget for road maintenance is simply not at a level that is sustainable in the long term, and the result is a continued deterioration year on year.
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“We are now literally patching the patches, and after another winter of bad weather coupled with an increase in heavier vehicles, our roads are now in a state of total collapse that local authorities are not equipped or funded to deal with.
“We need a financial commitment from central government to facilitate an urgent roads reset.”
West Oxfordshire District Council Green group leader Rosie Pearson added: “Many of us have suffered from damage and frustration from the state of our roads, especially after January’s severe weather.
“Nobody thinks this is acceptable. The Green Party approach is to look at the underlying causes of a problem, in order to find a permanent fix.”
North and West Oxfordshire Green Party co-chair Liz Reason said the cause of potholes needs to be tackled in a “systemic” way.
And North and West Oxfordshire Green Party co-chair Barry Wheatley added: “Years of patch-and-pray repairs have left our roads crumbling – damaging vehicles and putting pedestrians, cyclists and drivers at risk.
“It’s time for government and Oxfordshire to stop papering over the cracks and invest in roads built to last.”
Oxfordshire County Council has started repairs of 87 roads as part of its £8m improvement programme.
The now former transport chief Andrew Gant said in March: “Reactive pothole repairs are expensive and inefficient.
“Preventative maintenance, such as surface dressing, is far better value and stops potholes forming in the first place.”
The Thames Valley Police Abingdon unit arrested a man for “breaching court bail conditions” on Saturday, August 29.
A spokesperson said: “On Saturday, PC Hackett attended reports of a male breaching court bail conditions.
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“With assistance from PC Ellingworth and PC Harvey, the male was arrested. Following a search, a knife was recovered from his possession.”
In a wide ranging update, the force also revealed it had supported in a “concern for welfare incident linked to the night-time economy.
In addition, it had carried out licensing checks across Abingdon with drug wipes used and sent off for testing
OXFORD Mail Camera Club members have been taking photos of their dogs
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The collision happened on the southbound carriageway between Junction 6 for Lewknor and Junction 5 for Watlington in the late morning on Saturday, August 29.
The emergency services attended the scene and closed the road,
National Highways said lanes two and three of the three-lane motorway were shut as a result while crews dealt with the incident, leading to delays of around 40 minutes.
Congestion was worsened by separate lane closures between Junctions 4 and 5 in both directions following damage to the central reservation from an earlier incident.
Traffic built up on approaches to the crash, with nearby areas including Stokenchurch and Lewknor also affected.
Images from traffic cameras showed long queues of vehicles and emergency workers at the scene throughout the afternoon.
AA Travel also reported that one lane was closed on the northbound carriageway between Handy Cross and Stokenchurch due to emergency repairs.
National Highways later confirmed that all southbound lanes between Junctions 6 and 5 had reopened and that the lane closures linked to the earlier incident were also being removed.
Despite the reopening, delays of around 40 minutes remained on the approach as traffic slowly returned to normal.
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