A40 road

The County Council has been slammed for its role in a £51 million West Oxfordshire park and ride monument to failure.

Extra funding has been approved for the unusable Ensham site, which should see it finally connected to the A40 and put into use.

The initial planning application for the scheme was made in April 2021. and funding from the Department for Transport for the project, including connecting it to the road system and other improvements to the local network, was approved in December that year.

The 19-acre site with 850 spaces was completed in 2024, but has sat empty since then because inflation and funding shortages left it with its connecting road access or entry junctions to the A40.

Previously, the County Council defended its decision to build earlier and said that proceeding with the construction had avoided it being impacted by rising construction costs.

At a recent county council meeting, cabinet members approved an additional 3.8 million for the A40 improvements project, which will link the park and ride to the A40 and make it usable.

The leader of the Oxfordshire Conservatives, Liam Walker, said today, The Ensham Park and Ride has become a monument to the Liberal Democrats' failure to deliver major infrastructure projects on time and on budget.

To build a park and ride and then leave it sitting empty for what will be four and a half years because it isn't connected to the A40 is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

We look forward to your next visit to us.

My headline is, A40 link to park and ride may rise £14 million.

Roadworks connecting the unused Ensham Park and Ride to Wolvercote could cost £14 million more than anticipated earlier this year.

At a County Council meeting this week, Cabinet members will be asked to approve an additional £3.8 million for the A40 improvements, while also pausing plans to include bridge maintenance in the project.

According to a council report, Duke's Cut Railway Bridge was set to have repairs carried out amid the A Road scheme, but this could be postponed amid rising costs and uncertainty about the bridge's condition.

The first stage of the project is connecting Enchin Park and Ride in Castington.

It said the main areas of budget pressure were the first stage works connecting Ensham Park and Ride to the road and the Dukes Cut bridge works.

The report recommends increasing the spend on the much delayed connection to the park and ride and postponing the bridge repairs.

A local plan is a legal document created by a council that guides future development, land use and environmental protection in an area with consultation for West Oxfordshire's version ending on Friday.

The draft version safeguards a corridor along the A40 for a future mass rapid transit solution such as rail which would address long-standing congestion concerns.

Mr Maynard said this local plan will be essential in shaping our area and how it develops over the next 15 years.

And I'd strongly urge everyone to take a few minutes to respond to the consultation and make their voice heard.

Under government requirements, the local authority is planning for around 18,000 new homes by 2043, and the MP said they should not be forced to accept this unless transport infrastructure is delivered as well.

He added, this means a firm commitment to a transport solution along the A40, with a clear timeline for delivery, and no major housing approved until that commitment is made.

My view is that this should be a railway.

No other option offers the speed, reliability, sustainability and capacity that a railway can.