A community has urged a rail company to listen to their feedback on proposals to close a busy level crossing after many feel they have been ignored.

Bicester residents were able to have their say at the East West Rail (EWR) consultation last Thursday (November 21).

This comes after EWR revealed proposals to close London Road Crossing in Bicester to vehicular access, which has been met with controversy.

Many residents raised concerns about this and said they felt they hadn't been listened to in the past.

The EWR consultation at the John Paul II CentreThe EWR consultation at the John Paul II Centre (Image: Newsquest) Bernard Wakefield-Heath, 66, lives in the Langford area which he says will be "greatly affected" by the proposals. 

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He said closing the crossing to vehicles would "effectively cut off one part of the town".

Bernard Wakefield-HeathBernard Wakefield-Heath (Image: Newsquest) "I would hope EWR would listen," he told us. 

However, he added: "[EWR] hasn't listened to the community whatsoever up until now, so if I’m perfectly frank about it, I don’t expect them to listen to anything anyone says here.”

Robert Envine, 49, lives on new Langford.

He told us he has concerns about traffic increasing on existing roads - which he says "aren't really up to the job" - if the crossing is closed. 

Robert EnvineRobert Envine (Image: Newsquest) Will Gallagher, chief strategy and development officer for EWR, said more than 300 people attended the consultation event and a "really good set of conversations" were had.

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He noted that a lot of people "understandably" had concerns about the proposals for London Road Crossing.

He said: "The reason we are having the consultation is to listen.

"We have demonstrated - whether its on electrification, or some of the proposals we brought out in other parts of the line - that we do listen and  we do make changes to the scheme to reflect the feedback we've received."

He added: "That doesn't mean that just because more people want X or Y that we go with the one that gets the highest votes.

"If there are genuine proposals that are credible and can work, then we will take those into account.

The EWR consultation at the John Paul II CentreThe EWR consultation at the John Paul II Centre (Image: Newsquest) "This is not an easy challenge that we are dealing with.

"If there are proposals that can work, we will take them into account."

Members from Bicester Bike Users' Group (BBUG) attended the event. 

The group has previously raised concerns about proposals for the bridge and underpass.

After the event, a spokesperson for BBUG told us: "'It was pretty shocking that EWR seemed to have ignored or overlooked the extensive feedback which stakeholders and the highways authority have provided to date.

"It's worrying that the company are so far behind in the design work so late in the day.

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"Going forward, we urge the company to accelerate their design development and to actively listen to the feedback being provided by stakeholders so that we arrive at an accessible solution."

Mr Gallagher said EWR has an upcoming meeting with BBUG and that the group has proposals EWR is "interested in looking at".

He added that EWR will "certainly take them into account".

Calum Miller, the MP for Bicester and Woodstock, also attended the event.

Calum Miller, MP for Bicester and WoodstockCalum Miller, MP for Bicester and Woodstock (Image: Newsquest) Speaking after the consultation, he told us: "I really hope EWR will stick to their promise. They have told me, and the transport minister has told me, that they are listening.

"I hope they will hear very loud and clear that Bicester wants to find ways to keep the road open for car users, as well as pedestrians and cyclists, and they will go away and look at alternative ways of providing that access."

The consultation will run until January 24 and is available for feedback online here: https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation2024

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