DAVID Cameron wants the A40 west of Wolvercote dualled. But Oxfordshire County Council says the bottleneck is Wolvercote Roundabout, not eight miles of road west of it.

Enlarging roads increases traffic, so dualling would congest the roundabout more. Railfuture Thames Valley, Bus Users Oxford and Witney Oxford Transport all oppose dualling the A40.

Oxford Mail: LET DOWN: PM David Cameron

David Cameron

Oxford City Council wants a Northern Gateway business park to relocate 3,000 jobs at Wolvercote Roundabout. This would increase congestion on the roundabout. The PM should oppose the Northern Gateway. Even if Wolvercote Roundabout’s capacity is increased, A40 traffic should be cut. For this West Oxfordshire must grow less reliant on cars.

In 2011, Network Rail redoubled 20 miles of the Cotswold Line, enabling First Great Western to run more trains. FGW also reintroduced longer trains to increase capacity. This summer, without subsidy, GoRide increased the bus service to Burford and the Wychwoods and Stagecoach extended its Woodstock-Witney bus service to Burford.

Network Rail wants to redouble 10 miles of track between Wolvercote and Charlbury. The PM wants this funded as soon as possible. FGW could then increase trains to hourly. Non-car links to rail stations could then cut West Oxfordshire road traffic.

Stagecoach’s hourly Burford- Witney-Woodstock buses could meet trains at Hanborough. If FGW increased the number of trains calling at Shipton, GoRide’s hourly buses could link them with Milton-under-Wychwood and Burford.

Cheaper than dualling the A40, the PM should then invest in turning the abandoned Chipping Norton Railway into a cycleway to Kingham.

Hugh Jaeger,

media officer, Railfuture Thames Valley Branch,

chairman, bus users Oxford, 

Park Close, Oxford

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