Oxford: Botley Road residents angry over 24-hour working

The planned move to 24-hour building work to upgrade a railway station has sparked anger from city residents.

Botley Road, one of the main routes into Oxford, closed for 18 months in April so that work could begin on the £161m project.

Round-the-clock shifts will start on Saturday to make up for time lost when a Victorian arch was uncovered in July.

Network Rail said it was being as efficient as possible, but some locals are unhappy about the disruption.

Since 14 August, the project's working hours have been 07:00 to 19:00 BST, seven days a week, and from 2 September it will move to 24 hours a day.

The multimillion-pound project to upgrade the station, the railway and the surrounding local road network is not expected to be completed until October 2024.

But a pharmacy on Botley Road has been struggling to get deliveries since the work restarted.

Woodlands Pharmacy manager Tawanda Moyo said it meant they were behind on prescriptions.

"I want to hear more communication [from Network Rail] so I can reassure my customers," he added.

Network Rail spokesman Richard Griffiths said it was "really disappointing" that some customers were not aware of the 24-hour roadworks and that there was a weekly newsletter they should be receiving by email.

The day-and-night work is part of a solution to safely remove the brick arch, while managing groundwater and the stability of the bridge, Network Rail said.

The company wrote to residents about the changes, acknowledging that noise would be "unavoidable".

The ongoing roadworks have also affected Ian Clarke, who lives nearby and said they are extending his journey to work.

He said the route now takes him "all away around the ring road" and takes twice as long because of the traffic.

Network Rail said the discovery of the brick arch had "changed plans" and they needed to implement the 24-hour working to "make up for lost time".

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