Oxford:War of the council(on the motorist).

As from Monday 26th of February 2007, between the hours of 7.30am and 6.30pm the new "big brother" style camera that has appeared at the bottom of the high street in Oxford will become activated!.Stopping motorists from driving the whole length of the street without them having to turn back. So just to inform the 500+ readers around the world and the UK that this site currently attracts:Oxford is becoming the anti car/delivery vehicle capital of the world.

As well as the 2000 or so buses that delivery drivers have to avoid getting hit by when trying to cross the road,with their consumables ment for one of the many businesses that reside on the high street;they now have to drive around the bottle neck at the Long wall(street) end of the street to avoid being snapped by the cycloptic giant that is now resident their.This means that these vehicles will burn more fuel,and will clog other parts of oxford, driving miles in a circuit to get to the business on the High Street that they are delivering to,in an attempt to avoid it's 'death ray'.If you are not driving a city council licenced vehicle(eg,buses,taxes and emergency vehicles)and you are snapped by it, you will be slapped with a sixty pound fine and receive (three) fixed penalty points on your licence.The first few weeks will be a period of grace,and Oxfordshire county council will only issue warning letters to drivers flouting the ban .This will give the hapless motorist time to get used to avoiding Oxford all together,and go and shop somewhere else instead,eg, Abingdon,Bicester(Bicester village),and Banbury to name but a few.
Oxfordshire county council:as well as not taking into account delivery drivers and tourists getting snared in the 'war of the worlds' style of city policing,are notorious for other thoughtless folly's such as:the four chair public seats installed on the pavement in Cornmarket street;each bank of seats installed at the cost of £20000;five altogether.There are three seats for able bodied,and a designated space for wheelchair users?.In other words,they made a space for someone to sit on an invisible seat;a parking space for someone in a wheel chair,so they would not feel left out.(If you are reading this and you are in a wheel chair:do you think this is absurd?).Let us know,and i hope the way i have written this has not offended you in any way?.
I could go on and on about other expensive projects Occ have spent the registrars money on,but i will be here until the end of time itself.Another point that a local merchant who has a business(that is fiscally affected in the negative by Occ's harebrained schemes), told me that: "the many thousands of students that study in the colleges here can officially vote for the local constituent,then in the summer,or when they have finished their studies,they bu**er off, and leave us to put up with the elected councils 'idealistically' absurd(expensive)policy's".
Other locals shop keepers are even saying that:"there is already a 'congestion charge' in place with the amount of money motorists have to pay to park in the city"(£3.50 per hour).That's If you have the navigational driving skills and savvy of a 'knowledge' trained London cabbie,or a ruthless Juggernaut driver,and are able to avoid the Omnipotent gaze of the one eyed metal monoliths.

Oxford is so well known for it's anti car policy that the fantastic motoring show,Top Gear did a sat nav feature on it,with the shows anchor man,and car expert Jeromy Clarkson(who lives locally) getting totally lost!.

Ok i know what some of you are saying "with climate change and greenhouse gasses etc,surly this is all good for the environment?." Well not necessarily.It seems to me that Occ are just sweeping things under the carpet and moving the problem somewhere else to keep the centre looking pretty for the tourists.I know some local business people that tell me for a fact that their rates are going up and business is being sucked away from them by Occ.One merchant who operates his business out of the famous Covered Market (situated off Market street and Cornmarket street)said:"the council do their best to take business away from us,as well as increasing the rates,they often have 'french markets' just yards away in Broad street,selling the same product as us!".He went on to say that: "getting deliveries has become more difficult because drivers have to have the skills of Royal Marine commandos to,find,and park anyware near us!".

When i put it to him that:"at least they(Occ) are trying to be environmentally friendly by recycling the different types of rubbish?",he was in agreement,but then he pointed out a paradox."To enable the municipal waste recycling companies to pick up the different types of rubbish,ie(plastic,organic,and paper(not to mention(glass bottles and cans)they have to use FIVE! different types of dustcarts!,instead of putting it all mixed up on the one dustcart,like they used to do".So there you go,five different municipal vehicles arriving every morning at the same place,competing for parking space;then burning diesel taking the rubbish out of Oxford to the landfill sites,or recycling company depots.

To conclude:I have nothing against saving the environment,and unless something is done Oxford would be clogged with cars.The students that study their are part of the City's make-up and character and their input is in my opinion vital.(But if they could only vote for the council,if they were permanent residents their all year round then things might swing in favour of the traders,and company's that supply them.This can only be beneficial to the place.

Also if the council were to listen to everyones views about congestion etc,things could be a lot more balanced and tourists and shoppers could still be attracted to Oxford without having to donate a kidney in regard to parking ect.Because unless they are into buses with five passengers on them travelling up the High street like an unbroken train,or maybe the spectacle of a delivery driver bouncing off the front of one,when trying to gallantly deliver to a shop on the other side of the road:the place will loose its attractive character altogether.

Check out Oxfords High street,and the view of it from the Carfax tower web cam by clicking here.

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