Newly submitted plans for 63 homes near Wallingford that will increase road usage have been labelled a “dangerous recipe for traffic chaos.”

After months of letter drops and meetings, developers Nicholas King Homes have finally submitted its application for outline planning permission to redevelop the land off Wantage Road.

The proposed plans, which were submitted to the planning authority South Oxfordshire District Council, would see the buildings of Purely Plants nursery demolished with the owners confirming they would relocate within the town.

READ MORE: Update in planning application for 555 new homes in Wallingford

Oxford Mail:

The new development would continue to use the nursery’s access road, which would be enlarged under the plans.

In a transport assessment, it was predicted that the number of two-way vehicle trips would increase from 134 to 157 from 7am to 7pm on the access road.

In public consultation comment, Stephen Fortune said: “The proposed development will significantly increase traffic along Wantage Road. As one of the main access roads into Wallingford, the Wantage Road already has significant traffic flow into the town.”

Dave Davies-Rusu added: “The roundabout adjacent to this proposed development site is overloaded and frequently congested currently, despite the fact that developments along the link road are still progressing and they will produce additional traffic to feed into this roundabout.

“As the proposed development will introduce another arterial feed onto Wantage Road it will have the effect of disrupting the existing traffic flow, causing more delays and a danger to cyclists and pedestrians.”

In a joint statement, Sue and Roger Cox said: “The literature from the developer cites access by bicycle to Wallingford being encouraged. The existing cycle lanes at the top of Wantage Road, leading directly onto the roundabout show how lamentably narrow and potentially dangerous it is for cylists, adults and children alike.

They added: “We believe this development plan to be a dangerous recipe for traffic chaos. Our concerns are not only for drivers and their passengers; we have particular concerns for the safety of school children and other pedestrians at the dual access points, so close to roundabout mentioned above.”

Concerns have also been raised over how the existing infrastructure in the town would cope with the new houses.

Sue Roberts said: “We are building far more homes than we can fill with our slowly growing population. Wallingford cannot support even more housing with 1000 coming our way.

“We do not have the schools, dentists, doctors, sewage capacity even for those houses coming let alone more.”

The transport assessment concluded that the development traffic could be accommodated on the local network and that there was no requirement for mitigation measures.

Nicholas King Homes were contacted for comment but did not respond.