BusAndTrainUser Verify

Saturday 4th May 2024

A brand new 850 space Park and Ride site in Oxfordshire has recently been constructed at a cost of £51 million but it won’t be used for “a number of years” because, according to media reports, there’s no funding for its access road and roundabout on the adjacent A40.

Sounds bizarre? The local media certainly got its teeth into the story last month so it sounded an ideal news item for a BusAndTrainUser Verify investigation.

Inevitably the story was picked up by the national media.

To get to the bottom of this story we need to go back a decade.

In July 2014 the Government made a provisional allocation of £35 million from its Local Growth Fund for Oxfordshire County Council’s “A40 Science Transit scheme” which had been included in the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan dated March 2014. The funds were subject to (a) a Full Business Case being submitted and (b) a minimum of £5 million matching local contribution.

That “Stage 1 Full Business Case” was finalised the following year and approved at a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet on 21 July 2015. A paper presented to that meeting, entitled the “A40 Science Transit Public Transport Scheme and long term strategy”, identified a number of measures to improve bus services on the congested A40 corridor east of Witney at a “best estimate” cost at that time of £38 million incorporating two bus lanes (eastbound between a new Eynsham Roundabout and Wolvercote and the westbound approaches to Cassington traffic lights and the new Eynsham Roundabout – see map below) costing £29 million; the Eynsham Park and Ride site costing £6 million (remember that amount as the story develops); some junction improvements for £3 million, and although not on the A40 but located south east of Eynsham, bus priority at Swinford Toll Bridge for £0.4 million. The costs would be funded from the aforementioned Local Growth Fund grant of £35 million together with developer contributions of £3 million and Stagecoach buying new buses for at least £2 million thereby meeting the requirement for a £5 million matching local contribution.

The paper also outlined some pie in the sky long term “strategy options” including one of reinstating the railway between Witney and Yamton (located north east of Cassington on the above map) costing £289 million; or a light rail alternative costing £244 million; or a guided bus for £187 million; or bus lanes for £172 million; or dualling the A40 (no cost estimate given at that time).

After three years of detailed planning the Council held a public consultation into the proposed Park and Ride car park sited on the A40 north west of Eynsham with its associated access and bus lanes in late 2018.

Although some objections were received including from Eynsham Parish Council which wanted the Park and Ride sited further west, closer to Witney, the County Council continued to pursue its plans with a full planning application submitted on 31st May 2019.

In December 2020 the county council’s Cabinet received an updated paper outlining a revised “Full Business Case Submission” to take account of increased costs since that original “best estimate” in 2015 as well as explaining how “the project is linked to a number of other proposals within the A40 Programme” including other bus priority and junction improvement schemes along the corridor with funding from the Government’s “Housing Infrastructure Fund HIF2”

To maximise use of the funding available at that time, the December 2020 paper went on to explain in paragraph 26 why it was “bringing forward the construction phase of Park and Ride” as well as considering “the integration of the Science Transit scheme and elements of HIF2 which will not only provide time saving, reduce highway network disruption but also provide cost efficiencies”.

Key milestones in the paper were given as “planning application determined: February 2021; enabling works commence: late 2021; Park & Ride construction start: mid 2022; bus lanes construction start: mid 2022; All construction complete: summer 2024”.

Revised funding included the original £35 million from the Government’s Local Growth Fund; £1.5 million from developer contributions; a new £3 million from the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund and a new £11.752 million from the Housing Growth Deal fund bringing the new total to £51.252 million.

Not long after that quoted construction commencement date of “mid 2022”, a traditional ‘breaking ground’ ceremony was held in December 2022 with Balfour Beatty having been appointed as contractor to construct the 850 space car park but at a cost of £51 million using up all the updated funding available thus explaining why there was no money left to provide for the access road roundabout on the A40 and bus lanes.

The County Council issued a press release in July 2023 explaining “in light of global inflationary pressures, the A40 improvements programme has been under review since autumn 2022. The county council has been working with partners to review funding for the whole programme” adding that “the Governments Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF2) will be used to construct the bus lanes as well as upgraded shared-use paths to make walking and cycling safer along the historically congested A40 between Witney and Oxford”.

That’s why the county council maintain there should be no surprises the site isn’t opening yet, pointing out back in 2022 it flagged up that “construction is expected to be completed in early 2024 and it will be open for use, once other improvements are completed, in late 2025.”

The council maintains it was a prudent decision to construct the Park and Ride site with the funds available at that time and seek other opportunities “as funding becomes available” for the associated A40 improvements, as holding back would have seen further inflationary impacts on construction costs.

And you can see why the council is optimistic about further funding when looking at wider plans for the area.

For example, there are plans for a Garden Village just north of the Park & Ride site called Salt Cross where more than 2,000 homes and a new science business park with schools and community resources are planned (see map below with my annotations)…

… while to the west of Eynsham, a ‘strategic development area’ of 740 dwellings has been earmarked and where already some houses have been built and occupied.

This contextualises the Park and Ride and its associated bus lanes project as just one of a much larger “A40 Programme” the county council has established which is valued at £180 million and includes dualling the A40 between Eynsham and Witney, capacity improvements at Duke’s Cut canal and railway bridge, junction improvements at Shores Green, Witney; highway improvements between Wolvercote Roundabout and the A34 viaduct; and finally, establishing an “A40 Smart Corridor” which means “dynamically manage traffic flows to improve sustainable mobility, corridor safety and effective flows of people and goods by systematically utilising digital technology”.

That £180 million is coming from the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (£106.7 million); DfT’s Local Growth Fund (£35 million); Housing and Growth Deal (£18 million); Local Enterprise Partnership (£11.5 million) and Section 106 developer contributions.

So, it looks like there will be funding available to complete the access road and roundabout, as well as the bus lanes, allowing the Park and Ride site to finally become operational. But the media claim it will be “a number of years” rather than “coming 2025” as promoted on signs surrounding the site does look justified. Indeed, a recent FOI answer from the county council last November stated construction of the bus lanes will be completed in June 2027 which in my book is definitely in “a number of years”.

In the meantime the shiny new Park and Ride, site now pretty much complete (aside from final landscaping and clearing up), is set to be mothballed.

I paid a visit to the site on Tuesday to take a look at what a brand new £51 million 850 space empty Park and Ride site looks like. A very friendly security guard said I could take a few photos but once the Balfour Beatty site manager spotted me I was asked to leave. However, that was after I’d been able to take the following exclusive BusAndTrainUser sneak preview snaps of what it looks like.

Approaching on the A40 from Eynsham (with Cuckoo Lane on the right), the landscaping is very effective at hiding the mass of tarmac behind the site’s surrounding mound…

… and once the trees grow, it’ll be even more hidden from road and footpath level.

There is a narrow access from Cuckoo Lane into the site…

… which has been used by construction traffic and looks like it will be retained as shown on the plan at the beginning of this blogpost.

In the centre of the site is a large area set aside for buses…

… which optimistically includes seven bus stops and shelters (three on one side and four on the other)…

… as well as toilet facilities.

But, of course, most of the site is given over to those 850 parking spaces…

And finally, back out on the A40, here’s a photo looking westwards where the roundabout and access road will be constructed …… one day.

Hopefully by 2027.

Roger French

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