Homes England awards Oxfordshire County Council £218m

Oxfordshire County Council has been awarded £218m by Homes England to provide access to the Didcot Garden Town area.

The funding will allow the council to improve travel for residents, communities and business whilst supporting thousands of new homes and jobs.

All schemes include segregated walking and cycling routes and will facilitate new bus services which will give people real sustainable travel choice.

This sum of £218m (towards infrastructure costs of £234m) will deliver:

• Widening the A4130 from A34 Milton Interchange towards Didcot from single to dual carriageway;
• A new Science Bridge over the A4130, Great Western Railway Line and Milton Road into the former Didcot A Power Station site;
• A new Didcot to Culham bridge between the A4130 and A415; and
• A Clifton Hampden bypass

The lack of suitable crossings over the railway line and river coupled with significant housing and employment growth in the past three decades has resulted in severe congestion in the Didcot Garden Town and the surrounding area.

A landscaping strategy will be implemented that will include tree planting to make the routes greener and provide screening, helping to minimise their impact on the landscape.

Improvements to biodiversity will also be made where possible in line with the completion of a full Environmental Impact Assessment.

Oxfordshire County Council held a consultation to hear residents’ views on plans to support growth around Didcot in late 2018 and a second round in March-April this year.

Analysis of the responses received to this latest consultation will be published shortly.

‘This win for more than £200m is great news for the sustainable growth ambitions of Oxfordshire,’ said council leader, Cllr Ian Hudspeth.

‘It demonstrates that government is listening and the recognition that infrastructure is required in parallel to the delivery of new homes.

‘The infrastructure will also be vital to economic growth and support job creation in an area important to the local and national economy whilst helping to support the objectives of Didcot Garden Town; It’s a significant win for the people of Oxfordshire,’ added Cllr Hudspeth.

Photo Credit – Image4You (Pixabay)