A40 park-and-ride branded a potential 'white elephant' by parish council

Eynsham Parish Council has branded a new park and ride on the A40 a potential ‘white elephant’.

Work on the hub, which is part of £180million improvements to the road, starts next week.

But the parish council maintains that to tackle the long-standing problem of congestion the park and ride "is the wrong solution in the wrong place with the wrong design".

Chair Ross Macken said: "Indeed, the County Council’s A40 consultation report of 2016 makes no mention about a park and ride. In that document, a dual carriageway and a new train line were seen as potential solutions to tackle the congestion.

"We welcome changes that have been made to preserve mature trees and more of the hedgerow on the site but believe a proposal that encouraged active transport – including cycling – and encouraged the development of a rail link between Oxford and Witney would have a been a better use of taxpayers' money."

In consultations with Oxfordshire County Council, it has said it might help to alleviate traffic congestion by potentially taking 850 cars off the A40 from the approximately 32,000 currently using the road.

Witney Gazette:

But it added: "It should be located further west at Shores Green, Witney, so that existing and new residents will need to spend less time travelling to the P&R on already-congested roads."

It said the application is contrary to the Government's planning policy that significant development should be focused on locations which are or can be made sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes.

And it said: "That the location is included in the [West Oxfordshire] District Plan does not mean that it is in the optimal location. There is a real possibility that the P&R will be under-utilised, will fail to reduce A40 traffic, and will end up as a ‘white elephant’ comparable with the Creekmoor Park & Ride in Poole and other similar schemes attempted in recent years."

Witney Town Council also questioned the choice of site during consultations, saying as it is intended to serve commuters to Oxford from Witney and Carterton it makes little sense to site it halfway along their journey.

Oxfordshire County Council said the rationale is that it will be available to the widest catchment area, linking existing bus services from Eynsham, Witney and Carterton, as well as new services, to Oxford.

"The location at Eynsham is appropriate as it offers the most cost-effective solution for all. In comparison, siting the park and ride at Witney would require a greater number of buses to serve the network and would therefore be considerably more expensive to provide the same level of service," it said.

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