Oxford’s Cornmarket Street and Queen Street are scheduled to undergo “extensive repair works’’. Andrew Gant, head of transport management, announced at Oxfordshire County Council’s full meeting on Tuesday 16 April that the repairs are expected to take place over the summer.
Oxfordshire County Council told Cherwell: “Extensive repair works are planned for both Cornmarket Street and Queen Street in this financial year.” The plans involve the pavements of these streets being replaced and refurbished, which will start on Queen Street, before extending to Cornmarket Street. However, the initiation of the project is also dependent upon the “delivery of specialist materials from abroad”, and as such there is no confirmed start date yet. Overall, the repairs will take between 9 to 12 weeks, subject to external factors and conditions, such as weather.
The two streets in the historic city centre were described as being “in a shameful state” in the meeting by Susanna Pressel, Councillor for Jericho and Osney. Pressel pointed out in her question to Gant that these streets were ‘’possibly the most prominent and heavily used streets in the county, at least by pedestrians’’, with Gant admitting they were “a bit of a mess’’ in his response. Following his reassurance that plans to repair the streets were underway, Pressel expressed support, stating she was “very glad to hear’’ of the plans.
The announcement follows a series of other maintenance-related works in the city and wider county. Oxford Road, the main road from Banbury to Oxford, shut for two weeks at the beginning of April to undergo sewer repairs. In the rest of Oxfordshire, pothole-related compensation paid out by the council has nearly tripled to over £230,000, with the authorities blaming “perfect pothole-forming conditions’’. The Oxfordshire County Council told Cherwell that: “The budget estimate [for work on Cornmarket Street and Queens Street] is approximately £600,000.”
Gant has also revealed previously that Woodstock Road will be resurfaced in August, pointing out that the repairs would take place “overnight and during the school holidays to reduce [the] impact.” This work would therefore take place back-to-back with the repair works on Queen and Cornmarket Street.
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