Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet is expected to give its go-ahead to plans to get more people cycling in the city, including increasing the number of trips made by bike by 50 per cent over the next decade.
The proposals to boost uptake of cycling by 2031 are set out in the Oxford Local Cycling & Walking Plan Infrastructure plan which will be discussed by councillors when the cabinet meets on Tuesday.
The aim is to increase the number of trips made by bike, whether for commuting, leisure or other purposes, from 300,000 per week to 450,000.
It also identifies key routes to and from villages and towns outside the city itself, aimed at encouraging more people to switch to active travel for their trips into and out of Oxford, including making the case for a strategic cycle network and Cycle Greenways.
Other elements of the proposals include reducing speed limits on some roads to improve the safety of cyclists, as well as targeting pavement parking.
In all, the plan identifies 28 walking and cycling schemes that have been provisionally costed at £300 million.
In December, it was submitted to the Department for Transport, and now incorporates the resultant feedback from central government.
It sits within the wider Connecting Oxford initiative in which the county council, working alongside Oxford City Council, is aiming to tackle congestion in the city.
Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for the environment, Councillor Yvonne Constance, said in a foreword to the plan, that the aim was for Oxford to “become a world class cycling city with an outstanding public realm for walking.”
You can read the plan, which has been drawn up with input from local cycling campaign group Cyclox and pedestrian campaign group OxPA, here.