All Souls and University Colleges, and Steve Howell, Head of Transport for
Oxfordshire County Council, have publicly taken swipes at each other over the
issue of signage and buses on Oxford’s High Street.
News that the Council wished to site more bus stops on the High Street,
including one possibly in front of All Souls main gateway, has prompted a
scathing attack on the Council’s "vandalism" of the street, with All Souls
bursar Thomas Seaman deriding the Council as being more concerned with bus
passengers than they are with the environment or those organisations situated
on the High Street. The Warden of All Souls, Dr. John Davis also expressed
concern over the pollution control monitor at the front of the college, that he
says the Council said was only temporary.
Howell’s reply cites the improvement in paving and road surfaces, and a claimed
de-cluttering of signage as evidence of the Council’s commitment to the welfare
of the High Street, and cites the reduction in Government funding as a reason
for the slow progress of improvements to the central part of the street. He has
also called on those opposed to the plans to offer more constructive feedback.
