As lockdown eases, busy car traffic is returning to the residential streets of Cowley, making our neighbourhoods dangerous, polluted and noisy.

Now Oxfordshire County Council has the chance to put an end to these local shortcuts. The Department for Transport (DfT) is giving emergency funding to Oxfordshire County Council to support social distancing and encourage cycling and walking. The money could be used to turn Church Cowley, Florence Park and Temple Cowley into "Liveable Neighbourhoods".

All it takes is a few "modal filters" (bollards or tree planters) plus two "bus gates" (ANPR camera-enforced closure to private traffic but open to buses and taxis) that mean drivers who want to cross Oxford can't cut through residential roads any more. The money the DfT is offering is enough to make this happen, and to make Church Cowley, Florence Park and Temple Cowley safer, cleaner and quieter for the people and families who live and work here.

But the Council won't act unless they know you want them to. Worse, they could build some – but not enough – modal filters, encouraging car drivers to find new shortcuts in other parts of these neighbourhoods.

Please sign this petition and urge Oxfordshire County Council to transform Church Cowley, Florence Park and Temple Cowley into Liveable Neighbourhoods, by putting in modal filters and bus gates that end shortcuts in the area for good.

The time we have to act is short, but it could change our neighbourhoods for generations.