LTNs are bringing good vibes to Oxford’s suburbs, writes Ned
MUSINGS ON THE WORLD OF PRO CYCLING
Recently I went on a fact-finding mission to Oxford. Hoping to bump into Phillip Pullman, he who wrote all those wonderful books about magic, destiny triumph and adversity, so that I could discuss with him his uncomfortable appreciation of cyclists [Ed – see Pullman’s 28 October 2021 tweet], I had to settle instead for a guided tour of the suburbs. This was OK. The city centre, with its proliferation of antique sandstone colleges and antique sandstone academics walking around and muttering to themselves in Latin, was far too hot and far too busy. I was happy not to join the throngs of tourists.
Instead I met up with my co-presenters of a podcast called Streets Ahead, Adam [Tranter] and Laura [Laker, Cycling Plus columnist]. For the last couple of years, we three have been podcasting regularly about active travel. Laura and Adam are experts in the field (the former an acknowledged journalist in the field, the latter the Cycling and Walking Commissioner for the West Midlands). We had come to Oxford to see what was what.
The city has one of the highest rates of cycling in all of the UK. Cambridge has a little more, but Oxford is second. But that’s OK, because they get to routinely choose who becomes Prime Minister. However, the actual cycling provision is patchy, at best. There are almost no segregated lanes, and though some traffic-filtering measures have been put in place in the centre, you can still often find yourself pushed into the curb by the throbbing flank of a double decker bus. It’s far from a utopia.
Outside the centre though, a not-so-quiet revolution has been taking place. In East Oxford and Cowley, dozens of residential streets with Victorian terraced housing have been effectively closed to motorized through-traffic. These streets were, still are, sandwiched between two radial approaches to the east of Oxford, and before the Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) measures were put in place, were plagued by drivers of cars.
Now that these roads have been closed by planters, and wobbly bollards (the type which an ambulance, if need be, can simply drive over), life has changed enormously for the residents. Guided through the network of streets by Emily Kerr, a newly elected councillor, we rode for twenty minutes or so, and barely saw a moving car. Instead there was peace and quiet and a large number of residents riding around, including lots of children, in perfect safety. It looked, if I am honest, Utopian.
Of course, there are objections from withi
