Building new railways provides an opportunity to “control” the huge swathe of homes which will be built in the next decade, a councillor has warned.
The Liberal Democrat’s parliamentary candidate for Witney and chairman of the Witney Oxford Transport Group, Charlie Maynard, has said a new railway line allows housing to be allocated to areas in a "more organised" fashion and prevents new homeowners becoming cut off from the city.
Mr Maynard has been at the heart of a campaign which has put together proposals for a new line between Witney and Oxford and this would connect passengers to Oxford within 16 minutes.
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The Oxford to Witney line closed in 1962 and a major hurdle in the way of the proposed rail link are the estimated costs of £700 million upwards.
Mr Maynard said: “I’ve spent years working on this rail project because I feel that West Oxfordshire’s housing is put down haphazardly and we are going to have lots of housing coming at us.
“We shouldn’t hide underneath a rock, as this housing is coming anyway.”
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Mr Maynard highlighted West Oxfordshire was signed up for 10,500 homes between 2021 and 2031, meaning the area’s housing stock is set to increase by as much as 22 per cent in the next decade.
He warned that without new railway infrastructure this “enormous chunk of housing” was likely to lead to further traffic problems on the A40.
He said: “If you’ve got huge housing pressure, the logical place to put homes is around railway stations as then people have a real option.”
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Mr Maynard said commuters in the area needed a genuine option aside from cycling as otherwise people were forced to drive.
He said: “It is all very well berating people to get on their bikes but people don’t have a proper option.
“They are forced to get in their car for almost all their journeys.”
Mr Maynard said Witney and Consrvative MP Robert Courts had “absolutely” failed to take decisive action in terms of addressing the supply of affordable housing and he was unaware of what the MP had done to tackle the problem.
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Mr Courts said: “I was part of the team that ensured 50 per cent affordable housing in the Garden Village - something the Liberals opposed, and which comes with infrastructure, as well as championing progress on brownfield sites in Carterton and contributing to the national conversation on the need for affordable housing, especially for the young, based on an understanding of the actual issues that underline housing cost.
"On ideas for a new “Witney Railway line”, I will always be interested in ideas to improve our transport infrastructure.
"However, West Oxfordshire residents will be concerned to learn of the link made by the Liberals between affordable housing and the provision of an entirely new railway line.
"The price tag for that project is - on the basis of the Liberals’ own report - the thick end of £1bn.
"The upgrades to the Chiltern Line for Bicester cost £320m, a project far smaller in scope than any Witney line but requiring significant housing.
"The reality is that any project here would be accompanied by a vast increase in housing to match the huge price tag, way above anything yet envisioned.
"Given their refusal to release the report that lies behind the press release, given their refusal to back my campaign to bring the railway line we already have - the Cotswold Line - up to its full capacity, lying as it does a mile away from the garden village - residents could be forgiven for fearing that the link made by the Liberals between a new rail line and housing reveals the existence of a secret plan for the wholesale urbanisation of West Oxfordshire.”
A study exploring the feasibility of the railway line is taking place and this is assessing how planned housing by the A40 can help fund the railway.
The county council’s study found the railway line would be profitable and doable but it would depend on other rail improvements, such as the planned upgrade to the North Cotswold line.
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