MORNING traffic on a main route into the city could increase by almost half if a major development in North Oxford goes ahead, it has been claimed.

Transport consultant Mike Schofield, of Summertown, has told Oxfordshire County Council that Woodstock Road could become significantly busier if the proposed Northern Gateway business park is built.

Some 500 homes, a hotel and business park would be built on land bordered by the A40, A34 and A44, under the Oxford City Council scheme.

Mr Schofield, managing director of Mike Schofield & Associates, said figures in the council’s technical report showed that if the Northern Gateway is built, a 44 per cent rise in southbound traffic on the road was likely.

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He said: “There is already congestion in the mornings on this road, so the ability of the surrounding road network to handle the sorts of volumes of traffic the council is talking about should be considered.

“This would be a noticeable amount of extra traffic and when you factor in congestion there would be a big difference in queuing.

“In the council’s technical report, there is no evidence to show that they have looked at the ability of the roads to handle those levels.”

His comments came as a consultation on the development’s “area action plan” ended this week. But the county council – a statutory consultee as the highways authority – has declined to respond to his claims until the full process has ended.

Council spokesman Dominic Llewellyn-Jones said: “The county council will wait until the city council have considered all comments from their consultation and have formally asked for our response.”

It follows months of criticism levelled against the county authority by Wolvercote residents, who have demanded that plans to deal with extra traffic generated by the development be brought forward.

Schemes put forward so far to tackle extra traffic from the Northern Gateway include improvement works at the Woodstock and Banbury Road roundabouts.

The county council has also said it is working on plans for a strategic link road, west of the A34, between the A40 and Loop Farm roundabout.

That is expected to be funded at least in part by the Oxford City Deal, signed in February this year.

Wolvercote Neighbourhood Forum member Graham Jones called for the county council to develop a “genuine traffic solution”.

He said: “The area action plan put forward by the city council is premature and is based on no solid foundation. There is no excuse for them to be pushing ahead with this scheme until we know there is a genuine traffic solution”.

Yesterday David Nimmo Smith, cabinet member for transport on Oxfordshire County Council, sought to reassure residents. He said the authority was currently in talks with landowners to acquire the land needed for the link road.

He said: “The county is very keen to get this link road built so we can divert more traffic off the A40. It is high on our list of priorities and is, part and parcel, to deal with problems in the north of the city. We are confident we will have the necessary funding.”


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