OXFORDSHIRE County Council and Network Rail have been accused of missing an opportunity to unblock one of Oxford’s biggest traffic bottlenecks.

Last week, the rail firm and council won planning permission from the city council for a new platform south of Botley Road and a covered footbridge to link it with the main station building.

However, they have been accused of spurning the chance at the same time to replace the bridge which carries the railway over the road, to provide a wider road and space for cycle lanes.

The county council said there were no plans to widen the road bridge and, even if plans existed, money would not be available to do the work.

Retired Oxford Bus Company driver David Morris said: “It seems a nonsense to do the work on the station and the footbridge without looking at the big problem, which is the width of the railway bridge.

The 68-year-old, who often drove on the firm’s route No 4 route between Botley and Rose Hill, added: “The whole of Botley Road is a pinch-point but the railway bridge and Frideswide Square are the two biggest bottlenecks.”

Traffic surveys have found that on average 23,800 vehicles travel east over the Seacourt Stream bridge in Botley Road every day, of which 16,700 go on to cross Osney Bridge into the city centre.

Jericho and Osney councillor Colin Cook, the city council’s executive member for city development, voted against the station extension plan at the strategic development control committee meeting last Wednesday.

He said: “It’s a missed opportunity. What we’re doing will not be to the benefit of future generations of people living in Oxford.

“County council officers said it would not be possible to widen that bridge without major construction work, which would require the road to be closed for up to nine months. I just don’t accept that the road would have to be closed for so long.

“They claim the new arrangements at Frideswide Square are going to sort out the problems and we won’t need separate cycle lanes. But I see no prospect of the Frideswide Square proposals coming to fruition in the near future. In the meantime, cyclists risk their lives going under that bridge every day.”

Mr Cook said that the bridge was the major cause of jams in Botley Road and that widening it would bring benefits without the need for changes elsewhere along the road, such as wider bridges over the Thames and its side-streams.

Paul Cullen, a member of Oxford cyclists’ group Cyclox said: “What I’m worried about is that they’re trying to rush into a solution to these problems rather than standing back to think about it.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said: “There are no plans for a widening scheme. Even if there were, it’s highly unlikely funding would be available.

“Any significant work would also be likely to require the closure of the railway and major disruption to the road network.

“The Frideswide Square scheme remains on hold as part of council’s capital programme review.”

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