AN overwhelming majority of Oxford residents have backed calls to pedestrianised a popular city centre street.

A survey commissioned by Oxford City Council asked 466 residents their opinions on measures to make the city centre safe as shops reopen and the lockdown eases.

Among the most popular ideas was pedestrianising Broad Street, which 80 per cent of those who took part backed.

The proposal they supported was 'removing all car parking from Broad Street and replacing it with socialisation space to a large extent or to a moderate extent'.

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This socialisation space could take the form of cafe and restaurant seating on the pavement, so that businesses can serve more people while helping them maintain a distance.

And the proposal to lay our tables on the street was supported by 89.4 per cent of people.

One way pavements, which have been implemented in the city centre since Monday, also won support, with 78 per cent backing their use to support social distancing.

Other high scoring ideas included expanding and segregating cycle lanes from vehicular traffic in the city centre (89.2 per cent) and more space at park and ride sites allocated to secure bicycle parking in order to encourage 'Park & Pedal' journeys (80 per cent).

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The 466 Oxford residents who took part were independently chosen by surveying experts Ipsos MORI to be representative of the city’s demographics.

The city council uses the panel to get insights into the views of Oxford residents.

In total, 379 people (81 per cent of the residents’ panel) responded to the survey.