WORK on the next major stage in Witney’s expansion is getting ever closer, after councillors heard legal agreements with developers were nearing completion.

West Oxfordshire District Council’s lowlands area planning sub-committee heard an update on Monday on the progress of talks about the 1,000-home Downs Road development, which was granted planning permission in March.

There seems to just be one outstanding issue, to do with the new primary school, but the council is positive that despite this last hurdle, the final legal agreement could be signed in just a few months.

While there will be worries that these extra homes will pile yet more pressure on the town’s facilities and on the wider area, with many of the new residents likely to have to commute for work, the council has secured useful benefits for the community.

Some, such as the new roundabout on the A40 at Downs Road, which will ease the pressure on the junction of Ducklington Lane, Station Lane and Thorney Leys, cannot come soon enough.

There will also be a £100,000 contribution towards work needed to reopen the Corn Exchange and £250,000 to improve West Witney Sports Ground, which are also welcome when, as we have reported previously, the town council faces big bills to bring its facilities up to scratch.

We hope all the parties concerned in the development can bring their negotiations to a swift conclusion, so that some of the benefits will soon become reality.