Families’ fury after council re-surfaces ‘posh’ end of street but stops at working class end

A COUNCIL is accused of reigniting a "class war" after only resurfacing the posh end of a street.

The new tarmac runs to the spot where a spike-topped wall once divided council houses from the rich households down the road in Oxford.

The suburban street is still split into two ends where the wealthy Wentworth Road meets the less affluent Aldrich Road in Sunnymead.

Following a row with Oxford City Council the dividing wall was demolished 60 years ago.

But now a stark reminder of the past appeared on the road when workers repaired only the posh end.

An angry vandal armed with a spray can tagged the words "class war" on to the gleaming new tarmac in protest.

Naomi Langlais, who lives on the working class end of the street, said: "It was around April or May time that they decided the 'middle class' side deserved to be resurfaced.

"So we waited patiently for our end to be resurfaced too and thought it was just taking time as they had run out of money or something.

"But we soon realised it was just the one end they were doing, apparently we should put up with potholes and uneven surfacing."

The mum-of-four added: "We have not moved on at all - now we have a visual divide but much less obvious one.

"It is just so weird it stops at the exact spot that used to occupy the wall, half way down the road.

"The resurfacing is desperately needed on our end as well.

"It does make you feel second class and it is no longer a council estate, people have paid a lot of money for houses this end."

A plaque now sits on the house which neighboured the wall, and reads: "Here stood one of the two Cutteslowe Walls erected 1934 and finally demolished on March 9, 1959."

Oxford City Council said the reason that its services company only resurfaced one side of the divide is that Wentworth and Aldrich are still classed as separate roads.

A spokesman for the city council said: "The structural condition was far worse in Wentworth Road and this led to the decision to resurface this road first.

"Wentworth and Aldrich are different roads and the need to resurface Wentworth was greater.

"Oxford Direct Services will be inspecting Aldrich Road to assess the need for pothole repair."