Our comments on the Local Transport Plan

Our full response to LTCP5

23 March 2022

The Society has recently submitted its response to Oxfordshire County Council’s consultation on the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (LTCP).

The original document for consultation is here:
letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/12871/widgets/39624/documents/22102
and our full response is here:
www.oxcivicsoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220315_LTCP-consultation-OCS-response.pdf.

Both are detailed and lengthy documents. Although we welcome and support the County’s aspirations of encouraging cycling and walking in achieving a zero-carbon transport system, and reducing motor traffic and car dependency we are not convinced that the Plan explains how this will be done, nor how progress towards these objectives will be monitored.

We are particularly disappointed that safety barely features as a topic in the Plan. Like everyone, we at OCS have been appalled and saddened by the recent tragic deaths of two young women cyclists in Oxford City.

But we note that road safety is mentioned only once, very briefly, and on page 57 of the Plan. That is not enough: road safety should pervade the whole document, and proposals to invest in better facilities for both cycling and walking must be given high priority.

If the Council is serious about achieving its targets, we urge greater ambition, and propose the adoption of a Vision Zero objective – aiming for no fatal or serious injury accidents on the Council’s roads by 2040.

This would need:

  • a supervisory process responsible for delivery of the Vision Zero objective to ensure the County Council’s Highways team’s full commitment;
  • up-to-date incident data, and full investigation of each incident, to inform future safety measures and infrastructure;
  • effective joint working with local experts in transport, walking and cycling as well as authorities such as National Highways, Thames Valley Police and DfT in order to ensure integration of safety measures;
  • well-maintained and level surfaces of footways, cycleways and roads, and easily visible road markings – including where work has been carried out by utility companies, with checks carried out after such work is completed.

The development of a continuous network of safe segregated walking and cycling routes should be seen as the norm as road works and developments take place across the County.