The final stage of consultation on the Local Transport Plan closes on Sunday.

From the point of view of sustainable, active travel it’s looking pretty good; the priority of cycling and walking has been ranked as High, High, High and High for Oxford, large towns, small towns and rural Oxfordshire – the only objective to do so.

It’s closely followed by reducing congestion, improving public transport, and maintaining footways, cycleways and local roads. This is what focus groups across the county consider to be the priorities in a Local Transport Plan.

Here are all the documents on the OCC website

You may wish to limit yourself to just this summary.

In its entirety the plan is huge, and there are plenty of good words in the full sections (see Chapter 12 Cycling and Walking), but my initial impression is that the summary doesn’t adequately convey the emphasis on sustainable, active travel. See what you think – I’d be interested in your comments.

The major obstacle in actually realising a sustainable transport network is balancing the mutually exclusive goals of economic growth with the priority of people over vehicles. In general, separating people and vehicles where speeds and volumes are high, and restricting the speed and volume of motorised traffic where people live, work and play is the key.

Some of the questions I’m asking as I read it are:

• Is speed reduction in towns and villages without costly physical calming covered in this plan? See 20s Plenty For Us.
• Is the need for pleasant, adequate width cycle and walking routes alongside higher speed roads covered, as well as crossings? Try cycling from Bladon to Long Hanborough Station!
• Is public transport adequately prioritised outside of Oxford City? The S1 and S2 suffer the same congestion as everything else on the route to Oxford.

As ever, please make your views known, however concise, and respond to the consultation by this Sunday 9th January, either online, or by post.