An untended road sign has now become an in-joke among Banbury residents who, having grown weary of waiting for LibDem-run Cherwell District Council to repair it, have since taken it upon themselves to rename their local street.
The Easington Road, a popular cut-through street off the Bloxham Road in Banbury’s hot spot for school traffic, has been renamed ‘Rat Run Road’ by residents after LibDem-run Cherwell District Council failed to fix its broken street sign after years of inaction by LibDem-run Oxfordshire County Council to tackle local traffic problems.
Cllrs Kieron Mallon (Easington) and Eddie Reeves (Calthorpe) paid homage to Banbury’s newly named street on one of their regular door-knocking sessions around the town this week.
Commenting on the farce, veteran Town, District and County Cllr Kieron Mallon, said:
“Having served the people of Banbury for the last 27 years, I can never remember a time when a street sign has been left in such poor repair.
“How could you blame residents for taking it upon themselves to fix the problem and raise an important local issue in the process?
“I have lost count of the number of times I have raised concerns over local traffic, particularly at peak school times, and residents have – quite rightly – had enough of waiting.
“Labour and LibDem Cllrs in County Hall continue to focus on traffic problems in Oxford at the expense of tackling issues here in Banbury. God bless the British sense of humour for stepping into the breach!”
Leader of the Opposition on both Cherwell District and Oxfordshire County councils, Cllr Eddie Reeves, added:
“This is basic local government stuff. Residents have reported the sign as broken. I have reported it, too, yet nothing has been done by Cherwell District Council to fix it, nor by Oxfordshire County Council on local traffic, which is acute at peak school times.
“The Great British sense of humour has tackled the figurative problem here, but the actual problems stand to be fixed.
“It’s time for LibDem Cllrs running local public services to do the basics better and stop pontificating on ruinously expensive, grandiose schemes in Oxford at the expense of good local government.”
