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ABINGDON EDITION
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Thursday, January 23 - Wednesday, January 29, 2014
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HAVE YOUR SAY Consultation starts on South Abingdon crossings A CONSULTATION on pelican crossings on Ock Street and Marcham Road, linked to plans for a 159-home development on Drayton Road, has been launched by Oxfordshire County Council. The crossings were a requirement set out by the Planning
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Inspectorate when they granted permission to developers Hallam Land Management to build housing on Drayton Road. The existing crossing close to the double mini roundabout on Marcham Road would be moved further along the road, while a new crossing would be installed on the other side of the roundabout on Ock Street. It is hoped that the installation of new crossings near to the
By Adam Flinn adam@taylornewspapers.co.uk
double mini roundabout would alleviate traffic that the extra houses would bring. But Cllr Neil Fawcett, who represents Abingdon South on the county council, believes that the proposed crossings could in fact make the traffic worse. He said: “The way it was put
forward was that this is a solution to allow extra traffic on Drayton Road by holding up motorists coming into the junction from Ock Street. “It seems pretty inevitable to me if you deliberately hold up the traffic coming into that junction, it’s going to make Ock Street worse. “There may be other ways in which traffic can be reduced, such as looking at whether the
bridge could be changed to two carriageways heading north, which is something that’s been proposed in the past.” Cllr Fawcett also indicated a safety element of moving the Marcham Road traffic lights, in that pedestrians may not walk the extra distance to cross the road. He added: “The reason the crossing is where it is, is to allow people to cross who are coming in
from Drayton Road, particularly schoolchildren who are heading up to Larkmead School. “It’s the nature of all pedestrians, particularly children, that if you don’t put the crossing in a convenient place, they will try and cross the road themselves.” A representative from Hallam Land Management could not be reached for comment as the Guardian went to press.
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