A car park built for £51 million in Oxfordshire is lying empty because a council cannot connect it to the main road.
Planning problems are preventing motorists from using the 19-acre park and ride scheme in Eynsham until funding is secured to link it to the A40.
Aerial photographs show the 850-space site devoid of vehicles, despite its finished glossy tarmac, bus stops and green spaces. All major construction work was finished in January, followed by landscaping last month.
Although the car park could be cut off from the main road until 2027, local authorities have contracts to maintain it every week, cutting the grass and topsoiling and seeding when necessary.
Oxfordshire county council had informed residents that once complete, motorists would “benefit from 24-hour security, dedicated cycle storage, public toilets and electric vehicle parking bays” at the site, which would be accessible around the clock. It would “provide regular and reliable public transport services into Oxford”.
However, the car park cannot open after cost pressures caused the part-cancellation of an improvements programme to the A40.
The planning application for the park and ride was made in April 2021 and central government funding for the car park, access road and proposed roundabout was approved that December.
Oxfordshire county council also secured funding for other elements of the A40 improvements programme, including an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the car park and a four-mile bus lane in both directions linking it to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.
This part of the project had to be redesigned because rising costs, partly linked to inflation, meant it could not be completed within the budget.
The changes, which were submitted in September last year, now need to be approved by Homes England and the Department for Transport, which are paying for the work, before it can start.
Oxfordshire county council said it was unable to say when work would begin until the conclusion of these discussions, but its website said it was expected the park and ride site would be running by 2027.
About 32,000 vehicles use the A40 between Witney and Oxford every day. The county council estimates that the park and ride has the capacity to cut up to a third of the peak traffic travelling in each direction.
It is likely to benefit residents of the 1,000 homes planned for West Eynsham and 2,200 new homes at the proposed Salt Cross Garden Village.
During consultations, Eynsham parish council and Witney town council said it would have been more useful had it been situated at the Shores Green junction at Witney.
The construction of the park and ride started in December 2022 and was finished on time and within budget in January, apart from landscaping. Now the latter is complete it will need to be maintained under the contract.
Some vegetation beyond the park and ride site boundaries has a lighter maintenance schedule. Further work is expected on these areas when site access and bus lanes are constructed, the council said.
Lando7373 on
This country is an absolutely pathetic. I can’t believe it’s the same country (with France of course) that built the channel tunnel. We’d never get anything like that done now. We’re run by cretins at every level of government.
BestButtons on
> Oxfordshire county council also secured funding for other elements of the A40 improvements programme, including an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the car park and a four-mile bus lane in both directions linking it to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.
> This part of the project had to be redesigned because rising costs, partly linked to inflation, meant it could not be completed within the budget.
Not quite as forward as the headline makes you think, but wouldn’t it have been wise to build temporary connections meanwhile?
LifeMasterpiece6475 on
There’s a carpark in Farnborough Hampshire on the roof of some shops / flats with no access ramp. Believe they had to provide x number of spaces but nothing about them being usable.
It seems like an unfortunate case of poor planning and lack of funding.
tdmcnr on
In Rollercoaster Tycoon, I forget to make the ultra-flashy coaster station accessible from the main path.
another_online_idiot on
There is an entire motorway junction on the M49 near Bristol that has been built and ready for use for years and yet it is closed off because there are no connecting roads.
sjpllyon on
Just to put this in context this could have built around 5.1 miles of separated cycle lanes with the road being resurfaced too. And even maybe some added biodiversity.
mpanase on
Sure there was nothing else money could have been spent instead of having this unusable and costing maintenance for 3 YEARS.
Oxfordshire City Council leadership:
* Ian Hudspeth, Conservative, 15 May 2012 – 9 May 2021
* Liz Leffman, Liberal Democrats, 18 May 2021 – today
kahnindustries on
Take a look at the massive car park “for commuters” on the Welsh side of the Severn at Rogiet Moor. You need to drive to it from miles and miles away.
Rogiet is tiny, everyone over the bridge is closer to Bristol train stations, and the other way down the motorway you are closer to Newport stations
Each mile is vastly more expensive and slower on train than by car.
And it is difficult to get to from the motorway at Caldicot junction adding an extra 15 minutes
I am all for out of town parking and fast trains (preferably free) shuttling between.
However this appears to have been located and designed to be at the only place possible for it to be a worse in every situation
Someone pocketed a killing on that
McFigroll on
location 51°47’18.2″N 1°23’23.4″W. could be a good kart track
Harmless_Drone on
Almost like we need some kind of centralized infrastructure planning and construction rather than 15 different companies in trench coats scamming each other and the taxpayer to build hodge podge shit everywhere.
Current_Ad_8567 on
I actually live just across the road (A40) from this new Park & Ride lol
SkengmanJonny on
I can’t believe it costs £51 million to build a car park !. That’s as much as Douglas Luiz cost.
NeverGonnaGiveMewUp on
Ignoring everything else… £51m… for tarmac.
Someone had their pants down before they even got to their current problem.
No wonder councils are going bust. Follow the money.
Dangeruss82 on
A great example of morons at the council. Just like in Kent, the Thanet way has been shut coast bound for the last few months all because the head of kcc couldn’t be arsed to read her emails from 2021. It could have been reopened at least two months ago but they decided in their wisdom, just because they could, to cut out all the central safety handrails in the tunnel to replace them with new ones, despite the old ones being cast into the concrete and perfectly structurally sound, and now there’s no way of securing the new ones to the original safety spec now. The last estimated cost just for the new handrails? 250k. That’s on top of the 24hrs a day TM crews that are on site. The total cost for the ongoing closure is well into the millions for something that could have absolutely been avoided.
fgalv on
Knew this would be Eynsham before clicking. I drive past it regularly. It’s absurd.
Everyone around here knows how bad the A40 is, and there’s various plans to one to dual carriage way the whole way – but this won’t actually fix anything. The junctions at the entrance to Oxford will still be bottlenecks (primarily the Wolvercote roundabout)
I think the real problem is the total lack of rail in Oxfordshire. It’s a rail desert! There used to be a line from Oxford, to Witney and Brize Norton. I can see the old line from my office window! It was cut in the 60s.
People need alternative means to get from Oxfordshire into Oxford, London and Cambridge (and the north!). Providing this would take people, and freight, off the packed a40. There just appears to be zero appetite for new rail lines.
The new Lib Dem MP is claiming he will push for it and he platformed on this issue during the election campaign. I just don’t see it happening, sadly.
If I drive to Heathrow, it can take me over an hour to do the first 15 miles, then 40 minutes to do the last 45 miles. It’s ridiculous.
The Oxford tube now goes from Carterton, to Oxford, to London. It takes over 3 hours to go 72 miles.
17 Comments
Article contents:
A car park built for £51 million in Oxfordshire is lying empty because a council cannot connect it to the main road.
Planning problems are preventing motorists from using the 19-acre park and ride scheme in Eynsham until funding is secured to link it to the A40.
Aerial photographs show the 850-space site devoid of vehicles, despite its finished glossy tarmac, bus stops and green spaces. All major construction work was finished in January, followed by landscaping last month.
Although the car park could be cut off from the main road until 2027, local authorities have contracts to maintain it every week, cutting the grass and topsoiling and seeding when necessary.
Oxfordshire county council had informed residents that once complete, motorists would “benefit from 24-hour security, dedicated cycle storage, public toilets and electric vehicle parking bays” at the site, which would be accessible around the clock. It would “provide regular and reliable public transport services into Oxford”.
However, the car park cannot open after cost pressures caused the part-cancellation of an improvements programme to the A40.
The planning application for the park and ride was made in April 2021 and central government funding for the car park, access road and proposed roundabout was approved that December.
Oxfordshire county council also secured funding for other elements of the A40 improvements programme, including an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the car park and a four-mile bus lane in both directions linking it to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.
This part of the project had to be redesigned because rising costs, partly linked to inflation, meant it could not be completed within the budget.
The changes, which were submitted in September last year, now need to be approved by Homes England and the Department for Transport, which are paying for the work, before it can start.
Oxfordshire county council said it was unable to say when work would begin until the conclusion of these discussions, but its website said it was expected the park and ride site would be running by 2027.
About 32,000 vehicles use the A40 between Witney and Oxford every day. The county council estimates that the park and ride has the capacity to cut up to a third of the peak traffic travelling in each direction.
It is likely to benefit residents of the 1,000 homes planned for West Eynsham and 2,200 new homes at the proposed Salt Cross Garden Village.
During consultations, Eynsham parish council and Witney town council said it would have been more useful had it been situated at the Shores Green junction at Witney.
The construction of the park and ride started in December 2022 and was finished on time and within budget in January, apart from landscaping. Now the latter is complete it will need to be maintained under the contract.
Some vegetation beyond the park and ride site boundaries has a lighter maintenance schedule. Further work is expected on these areas when site access and bus lanes are constructed, the council said.
This country is an absolutely pathetic. I can’t believe it’s the same country (with France of course) that built the channel tunnel. We’d never get anything like that done now. We’re run by cretins at every level of government.
> Oxfordshire county council also secured funding for other elements of the A40 improvements programme, including an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the car park and a four-mile bus lane in both directions linking it to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.
> This part of the project had to be redesigned because rising costs, partly linked to inflation, meant it could not be completed within the budget.
Not quite as forward as the headline makes you think, but wouldn’t it have been wise to build temporary connections meanwhile?
There’s a carpark in Farnborough Hampshire on the roof of some shops / flats with no access ramp. Believe they had to provide x number of spaces but nothing about them being usable.
I watched this video about this a few months ago https://youtu.be/dISbY0YsLQM?si=TWTTD23UVhobXWlc
It seems like an unfortunate case of poor planning and lack of funding.
In Rollercoaster Tycoon, I forget to make the ultra-flashy coaster station accessible from the main path.
There is an entire motorway junction on the M49 near Bristol that has been built and ready for use for years and yet it is closed off because there are no connecting roads.
Just to put this in context this could have built around 5.1 miles of separated cycle lanes with the road being resurfaced too. And even maybe some added biodiversity.
Sure there was nothing else money could have been spent instead of having this unusable and costing maintenance for 3 YEARS.
Oxfordshire City Council leadership:
* Ian Hudspeth, Conservative, 15 May 2012 – 9 May 2021
* Liz Leffman, Liberal Democrats, 18 May 2021 – today
Take a look at the massive car park “for commuters” on the Welsh side of the Severn at Rogiet Moor. You need to drive to it from miles and miles away.
Rogiet is tiny, everyone over the bridge is closer to Bristol train stations, and the other way down the motorway you are closer to Newport stations
Each mile is vastly more expensive and slower on train than by car.
And it is difficult to get to from the motorway at Caldicot junction adding an extra 15 minutes
I am all for out of town parking and fast trains (preferably free) shuttling between.
However this appears to have been located and designed to be at the only place possible for it to be a worse in every situation
Someone pocketed a killing on that
location 51°47’18.2″N 1°23’23.4″W. could be a good kart track
Almost like we need some kind of centralized infrastructure planning and construction rather than 15 different companies in trench coats scamming each other and the taxpayer to build hodge podge shit everywhere.
I actually live just across the road (A40) from this new Park & Ride lol
I can’t believe it costs £51 million to build a car park !. That’s as much as Douglas Luiz cost.
Ignoring everything else… £51m… for tarmac.
Someone had their pants down before they even got to their current problem.
No wonder councils are going bust. Follow the money.
A great example of morons at the council. Just like in Kent, the Thanet way has been shut coast bound for the last few months all because the head of kcc couldn’t be arsed to read her emails from 2021. It could have been reopened at least two months ago but they decided in their wisdom, just because they could, to cut out all the central safety handrails in the tunnel to replace them with new ones, despite the old ones being cast into the concrete and perfectly structurally sound, and now there’s no way of securing the new ones to the original safety spec now. The last estimated cost just for the new handrails? 250k. That’s on top of the 24hrs a day TM crews that are on site. The total cost for the ongoing closure is well into the millions for something that could have absolutely been avoided.
Knew this would be Eynsham before clicking. I drive past it regularly. It’s absurd.
Everyone around here knows how bad the A40 is, and there’s various plans to one to dual carriage way the whole way – but this won’t actually fix anything. The junctions at the entrance to Oxford will still be bottlenecks (primarily the Wolvercote roundabout)
I think the real problem is the total lack of rail in Oxfordshire. It’s a rail desert! There used to be a line from Oxford, to Witney and Brize Norton. I can see the old line from my office window! It was cut in the 60s.
People need alternative means to get from Oxfordshire into Oxford, London and Cambridge (and the north!). Providing this would take people, and freight, off the packed a40. There just appears to be zero appetite for new rail lines.
The new Lib Dem MP is claiming he will push for it and he platformed on this issue during the election campaign. I just don’t see it happening, sadly.
If I drive to Heathrow, it can take me over an hour to do the first 15 miles, then 40 minutes to do the last 45 miles. It’s ridiculous.
The Oxford tube now goes from Carterton, to Oxford, to London. It takes over 3 hours to go 72 miles.