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Residents fear new link route could prove fatal
VË-jÄ aj ÍÄË wË! ÁÍ Ý?ßËjÄÍ?ÍjˬÁ ÍjÄÍË?M ÖÍËÍ jË jÝË ËÁ ?aË RESIDENTS on Oxford’s Northway estate are calling for a public inquiry into the building of a new link road they fear could be deadly for their children. The road for buses and emergency vehicles on to the A40 is for the new Barton Park housing development on the other side of the city’s northern bypass from Northway.
By Dominic Thomas But the Northway residents claim it poses a significant risk and are collecting petition signatures calling a review of the decision to build the road, which, they claim, contravenes planning and conservation laws. It was granted planning permission by Oxfordshire County Council
in 2014, despite numerous objections. Northway resident Georgina Gibbs said: “It should never have been built. When we asked the county council, they said they went on the advice of the developers that the land was no longer in use, but, in reality, it is very much still in use and children from the houses still play there.” A hedgerow planted to prevent chil-
dren from running onto the bypass when the estate was built in 1957 has been removed for the link road. Chris Watts, of Foxwell Drive, Northway, was concerned for the safety of his daughter and dog. “My daughter is as fast as anything and once the fencing comes down there’s nothing to stop her running out into the road,” he said.
Fellow resident Sarah Vickers, of Meadon Hill, which leads into the link road, said: “My son plays football around here all the time, and if the ball was to go over here, I know he would go after it and with the traffic going so fast, I don’t think he’d stand much of a chance.” VË Í ÖjÄË Ë¬?~jËÏ