Class war reignited as council tarmacs only ‘posh’ end of Oxford street

Pothole repair work divides road where spiked wall once separated rich and poor

Residents in Oxford have accused their council of reigniting a “class war” after resurfacing only the posh end of a suburban street.

Repair work in Cutteslowe divides the road at the exact spot where a wall once separated council houses from the area’s wealthier homeowners.

The developer which built all the homes in 1934 put up a wall to divide the two halves, even placing spikes along the top. The two sections were even given different names; Wentworth Road for the more upmarket stretch and Aldrich Road for the part housing council tenants.

Although the infamous barrier was taken down 60 years ago, recent repairs to the potholed road have revived tensions among residents.

The split has left many people living in the Aldrich Road end puzzled about their apparently second class status.

One angry inhabitant sprayed “class war” across the road in protest.

Naomi Langlais, who lives at that 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 resurfacing is desperately needed on our end as well. ”

A 9ft wall was built in 1934 to separate council tenants from homeowners (Oxford Mail / SWNS.com)

Oxford’s Cutteslowe wall became nationally notorious in the 1930s and 1940s – a telling reminder of snobbery and class divisions when it came to housing stock.

Although it was finally demolished in 1959, a blue plaque now sits on the house which neighboured the wall built by the Urban Housing Company.

Ms Langlais, a mother of four children, said: “It is just so weird it stops at the exact spot that used to occupy the wall, half way down the road.

“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.”

Oxford City Council said only side of the divide was resurfaced because the two sections were still treated as separate roads, even though each was a clear continuation of the other.

A council spokesman said: “The decision to resurface this road was purely based on need.

“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.”