Transport measures to reduce congestion in Headington are to cost Oxfordshire's main health trust more than £4m.

The closure of the Radcliffe Infirmary early next year, with 1,200 staff being transferred to an enlarged John Radcliffe Hospital, has led to a major traffic headache.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxfordshire County Council have spent more than a year grappling with the problems of car parking in residential areas and the JR site.

They are also now finalising plans to extend bus services to the JR, which has already resulted in the controversial rerouting of existing services.

The trust's transport and development planning manager, David Edwards, this week confirmed that more than £4m was being spent on transport schemes, including nearly £2m paid to County Hall as a contribution from developers.

The money handed to the county council has gone on off-site measures to improve access to the JR by bus, bicycle and foot.

Among the schemes in the pipeline is a proposed bus service from Water Eaton park-and-ride, which will cost about £1m over four years. Abingdon's direct hospital service to the John Radcliffe has already been revived, after being dropped for 18 months.

More than £2m has been spent on the buses-only link road to Osler Road and associated cycle track and footpath. Two hundred new car parking spaces have also been created underneath the new west wing and children's hospital.

Work on the main bus terminal at the JR will begin next year.

Residents in Osler Road had objected that Osler Road was too narrow to take buses diverted from Headley Way. There have been complaints too from Headley Way residents, who said they had been left with no services.

The county council cabinet member responsible for transport, David Robertson, said: "We have taken the intiative in planning for the hospital move and achieved a huge amount in the past 12 months.

"Inevitably, it will take a while for people to adjust to the new arrangements and find out the best way of getting to the hospital.

"But we have worked closely with the hospital trust to get where we are, and believe that many more people will have a real choice in how they get to the hospital because of the improvements."