HUGE £51M CAR PARK LYING EMPTY...AS THERE'S NO MONEY TO BUILD ROAD

A council has built a £51m park and ride site - but it still cannot be used because they can't afford to build an access road.

All major construction work at the 850-space car park in Eynsham, Oxon, was finished in January - and landscaping completed last month.

But there will be no vehicles parking at the 19-acre site until funding is secured for the infrastructure to connect it to the A40 - which could potentially be in 2027.

Yet with all the building and landscape work complete, Oxfordshire County Council is now providing ongoing maintenance to the empty site as part of the current contract.

Work has to be done each week, including grass cutting, topsoiling and seeding as needed, despite no cars being able to use the site.

The situation has arisen because of the part-cancellation of the A40 improvements programme due to cost pressures.

The planning application for the park and ride was made in April 2021 and funding from the Department of Transport (DfT) was approved in December that year.

The county council also secured funding for the access road and proposed roundabout along with other elements of the A40 improvements programme.

These included an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the park and ride and a four-mile bus lane in both directions from the park and ride to Duke's Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.

But this project had to be redesigned because cost pressures, including inflation, meant it couldn't be completed within the available budget.

The changes, which were submitted in September 2023, now need to be approved by funders Homes England and the Department for Transport before work can start.

Oxfordshire County Council said it was unable to share a delivery timeline until the conclusion of these discussions.

Meanwhile construction of the park and ride started in December 2022 and was completed on time and in budget in January, apart from landscaping.

The council estimates the park and ride has the capacity to cut up to a third of the peak traffic travelling in each direction.

Oxfordshire County Council and the Department for Transport were contacted for comment.

2024-09-03T08:58:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd