The class battle, 2018
IT was supposed to help the community by fixing a pothole problem. But a decision to tarmac a street has rekindled a decades-old class divide.
For while workmen resurfaced the road outside privately developed houses, they stopped when they reached the adjoining, more humble council-built homes.
To some of residents of Cutteslowe, a suburb to the north of Oxford, the sight of the gleaming black tar ending where Wentworth Road becomes Aldrich Road is a symbol of modern snobbery.
They have complained to Oxford City Council and someone has even sprayed the slogan ‘Class War’ across the road in blue paint. To make matters worse, the point where the new surface stops marks the exact spot where the notorious Cutteslowe Wall stood.
The 9ft wall, topped with spikes, was built in 1934 as a barrier between private houses and a council estate. It was demolished in 1959.
Many of the council houses in Aldrich Road are now privately owned, with a three-bedroom semi costing around £500,000 – some £300,000 less than the bigger three-bed semis in Wentworth Road.
Care assistant Naomi Langlais, 39, a mother of four who rents in Aldrich Road, told the Oxford Mail: ‘We waited for our end to be resurfaced too. But we realised it was just the one end they were doing. Apparently we should put up with potholes and uneven surfacing.’
Retired accountant Philip Cresswell, 64, an Oxford graduate who has lived in Wentworth Road for 25 years, said: ‘Our road needed repairing and Aldrich Road didn’t.’
Asked if there was a class war, he replied: ‘I’d say that was complete nonsense.’
A council spokesman said: ‘The decision to resurface was based on need.’
He added that the council would be ‘inspecting Aldrich Road to assess the need for pothole repair’.