WITNEY landowners have spent £20,000 on a report to prove that an alternative to the controversial Cogges Link Road is viable.

This week, a report into the Shores Green alternative has been published.

A year ago, the East Witney Land Consortium commissioned the scoping report from Aecom, an environmental consultancy.

The group — made up of three landowners — says that the report shows that Shores Green is a viable and cheaper alternative to the Cogges Link Road. South Leigh farmer James Mawle, of the consortium, said: “The Shores Green is better because ultimately it is cheaper and provides traffic relief at Bridge Street, and doesn’t affect the floodplain of the Windrush or the country park.”

More than a year ago, County Hall voted to press ahead with a scheme to build the long-awaited Cogges Link Road, which would cut across Witney Meadows.

The road, which would ease pressure on the town’s Bridge Street bottleneck, has been on the cards since 1987.

Opponents of the road, which would connect Witan Way and Oxford Hill, filed an application to protect the land in February, delaying the plans. A public inquiry into awarding Witney Meadows Town Green status will be heard on Thursday, at 10am, at the Methodist Hall, in High Street.

A separate proposal has also been suggested to Oxfordshire County Council, called Shores Green. The plan would create two slipways on to the A40, which supporters claim would make it easier for traffic to flow from Cogges to Oxford and outside of Witney.

The scoping report into the proposal, which is the first step developers take to secure planning permission, has stated that it will cost £3.88m to build.

The group plan to present both West Oxfordshire District Council and the county council with the report.

County Hall spokesman, Owen Morton, said: “The county council will look carefully at this report before responding, as it would any report submitted to it.

“However, the Shores Green alternative was fully considered previously, and it was decided to pursue Cogges Link Road as the best option for mitigating traffic congestion in the local area. The proposal was granted planning permission on April 7, 2009.”

Mr Mawle, who owns most of the land needed for the Cogges Link Road, said that the land consortium would consider applying for planning permission for the Shores Green alternative, in order to prove the viability of the scheme.

He said: “The scoping report shows that there are no environmental reasons why Shores Green cannot be considered as an alternative to the Cogges Link Road.”