Would you like to contribute to ideas about better public spaces in Oxford?
LCWO are looking for a member to join this CoHSAT project group.
CoHSAT (The Coalition of Healthy Streets and Active Transport, http://cohsat.org.uk/) is made up of a number of different Low Carbon and active travel groups as well as the Oxford Civic Society.
CoHSAT have funding from the Low Carbon Hub for a number of projects, one of which is considering a change in how St Giles is used, which relates to the planned Connecting Oxford plans and reducing through traffic in the area.
If you are interested please let us know and our CoHSAT link member (Neville Scrivener) will be happy to discuss it further.
The initial aim and activities are outlined here:
About the project
St Giles is a wonderful piece of townscape and we want to investigate the opportunities for making all or some of this into a new part of the public realm. The expectation is that there may be good opportunities, as a minimum, for wider pavements and more pedestrianisation in the southern part of St Giles, partly through the relocation of tourist coaches. The use and environment of St Giles is changing, we want to capitalise on this and explore some of the options and their popularity. We will build on past research undertaken by Oxford Pedestrians Association (OxPA) in 2014-15 https://www.oxpa.org.uk/St%
Ideally, we would try and raise some additional funds, so that a professional urban space planner could assist us with a detailed plan. The aim is to have two scenarios, at least, one with no motorised traffic, the other with a partial diminution of car use.
| Activity 1: Set up tasks | How you calculated this and who will carry this out |
| Clarification with representatives of Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council of the traffic-restriction plans that will affect St Giles and their timetable. | Oxford Civic Society (OCS) in conjunction with Oxford Pedestrians Association (OxPA) will lead on this activity
5 hours @ £20 per hour, in-kind from volunteers |
| Discussions with similar representatives to establish what is known about traffic flows, including tourist coaches, pedestrians. Aim to get a list of tourist bus companies that come to Oxford | 5 hours @ £20, in-kind from volunteers |
| Discussion with similar representatives about the known effect of the St Giles’ fair and how the impacts on groups like the tourist buses are managed | 5 hours @ £20, in-kind from volunteers |
| Background research into the way other large spaces have been successfully transformed, including Times Square in New York | 20 hours @ £20, in-kind from volunteers |
| Discussion with Phil Jones Associates about their proposals for the space in their 2018 report and OxPA and their earlier study | 5 hours @ £20, in-kind from volunteers |
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