UTC Road Layout

I go through there every evening heading towards Harwell and now take the lane through the pinch points due to idiots trying to squeeze past. The shared pavements are a waste of time but that seems to be the limit of the council’s imagination. You can probably find the planning application and responses on the Vale website although it might be a slog, their search feature is a bit crap.

On the plus side the advance stop line/approach lane at the lights is helpful when cars aren’t in it and it’s a heavenly surface compared to the rest of the commute.

Yes, HarBUG was involved with the consultation of Great Western Park in 2008. In particular we were concerned with changes to the Wantage Road from Didcot to Harwell.
We asked for ‘on-carriageway’ cycle lanes from the Foxhall Road roundabout through to the A34 bridge. pointing out that this was a main cycle communting route to the Harwell Campus. We even looked at the feasibility with a County Council Traffic Engineer, on the ground. The traffic light junction was shown on the consultation documents and we asked for advanced stop boxes to be included connecting with the cycle lanes. There was very little detail of the junction on the consultation documents i.e. position of islands etc.
What we found out later, in 2011, was that everything had been planned, designed and signed off in 2007, a year before the public consultations.
This junction has been used as an example of how disjointed planning is in Oxfordshire and the need, in future, to look at the bigger picture. The County Council has admitted that the junction is a poor design for cyclists.
What we have got is what the developers and their traffic planners decided we are getting and told the council this is what’s going to happen.
This doesn’t help us and for the short term I think we are stuck with it , although we will try to get changes (perhaps when the new secondary school is built next to the UTC).
Things are going to get worse though, the next pointless cycle path is along Wantage Road. this involves widening the current footpath on the North side, this was in the 2007 plans and we seem to be unable to stop it.

Yes, HarBUG was involved with the consultation of Great Western Park in 2008. In particular we were concerned with changes to the Wantage Road from Didcot to Harwell.
We asked for ‘on-carriageway’ cycle lanes from the Foxhall Road roundabout through to the A34 bridge. pointing out that this was a main cycle communting route to the Harwell Campus. We even looked at the feasibility with a County Council Traffic Engineer, on the ground. The traffic light junction was shown on the consultation documents and we asked for advanced stop boxes to be included connecting with the cycle lanes. There was very little detail of the junction on the consultation documents i.e. position of islands etc.
What we found out later, in 2011, was that everything had been planned, designed and signed off in 2007, a year before the public consultations.
This junction has been used as an example of how disjointed planning is in Oxfordshire and the need, in future, to look at the bigger picture. The County Council has admitted that the junction is a poor design for cyclists.
What we have got is what the developers and their traffic planners decided we are getting and told the council this is what’s going to happen.
This doesn’t help us and for the short term I think we are stuck with it , although we will try to get changes (perhaps when the new secondary school is built next to the UTC).
Things are going to get worse though, the next pointless cycle path is along Wantage Road. this involves widening the current footpath on the North side, this was in the 2007 plans and we seem to be unable to stop it.