Oxfordshire: ‘quiet lanes’ to ban traffic on 10 roads

Today, Tuesday, May 19, a pilot set to involve 10 streets was approved unanimously at Oxfordshire County Council cabinet.

The scheme will include physical barriers to traffic as well as 20 mph speed limits.

It will be enforced using experimental traffic regulation orders (ETROs), which will be subject to statutory consultation.

The authority says it plans to use streets where there are alternative routes available, and access would be maintained for residents, farmers, businesses, and emergency services.

A report to the council said the Department for Transport (DfT) evaluations of existing quiet lanes indicate that “signage only approaches generally have little to no impact on traffic volumes or vehicle speeds”.

It added that mixed traffic lanes were “discounted” as they would not “have the desired effect in relation to encouraging active travel or environmental benefits”.

The recently appointed transport boss, Rebekah Fletcher, said: “Quiet lanes are about making sure local roads work for the communities that live there, not as cut-throughs for traffic they were never designed to carry. 

“This new approach will help us to prioritise walking, wheeling, cycling and horse riding, and give us a clear and consistent way to provide quiet lanes where there is strong local support.

Cllr Fletcher (Image: OCC)

She added: “I look forward to working with parish and town councils and local councillors on this locally led and innovative programme.”

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, active travel champion and county councillor Emily Kerr (Green) expressed her support for the proposals.

Councillor Emily Kerr, Oxfordshire’s active travel and cycling champion (Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

She said: “Parish councillors kept asking what they could do next after the 20 miles an hour, and this was really brought home to me in a visit I made alongside Councillor Gordon to a village in her division.”

“There was a floral tribute and teddy bears by the side of the road, and she told me it was where a five-year-old child had been killed by a rat-running driver just a couple of years ago.”

She believes that quiet lanes are a safety measure which would allow “communities to designate fair local lanes as safe for villagers, to walk their dogs, to ride their ponies, to get to the bus stop” that could “change rural lives for the better”.

The county council stated that under quiet lanes schemes, “overall journey times for drivers are usually only slightly affected because suitable alternative routes must be available”.

It will now work with parish and town councils to identify and pilot new sites.

The authority said: “Each scheme will be subject to statutory consultation, which will allow measures to be tested in practice, evidence to be collected and designs refined before any permanent decisions are made.”