A LINK road between the A40 and A44 is not needed to reduce the traffic impact of a large North Oxford business park, council officers said yesterday.

The Northern Gateway scheme proposed by Oxford City Council and the Northern Gateway Consortium would create thousands of jobs and include up to 500 homes, a 90,000sqm employment area and a hotel.

It will mainly be on land bordered by the A40, A34 and A44, and plans are being scrutinised at an inquiry by planning inspector Christine Newmarch.

Residents fear it could cause extra traffic, snarling up the already busy Wolvercote Roundabout, and have said the link road is essential for relieving pressure.

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But a package of road schemes to reduce the impact of the development, proposed by Oxfordshire County Council and the Highways Agency, does not include it.

County council officer Daniel Round told the inquiry yesterday: “If we implement (these measures) then the strategic link road is not required. That is what the evidence is showing.”

The link road between the A40 and A44 would cost £11.8m, the county council has estimated.

But it has emerged the authority has so far secured only £2.3m for its construction, through the Oxford City Deal signed last year.

Measures put forward to relieve pressure on the roads around the Northern Gateway include county council proposals to redesign both Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts.

The council’s cabinet member for transport, David Nimmo Smith, is expected to sign off the schemes next week and work is scheduled to begin in June.

The authority has also pledged to cap the number of business parking spaces at 1,750, which it said would discourage commuters from arriving by car.

In addition, the Highways Agency has committed to improving the A34 interchanges at Pear Tree, Botley, Milton and Chilton.

County council officer Stuart Wilson added there had been no significant change in the volume of traffic coming to the Wolvercote Roundabout area in the last 10 years.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood said it was “inaccurate”

to say traffic had not become worse in North Oxford.

And she said plans to improve the A34 were not yet detailed enough to go ahead with the Northern Gateway.

Ms Blackwood said: “My constituents spend hours every day stuck in traffic.

“The reality is that more development requires the necessary infrastructure to cope with it.”

Council officer Mr Round said in reply to Ms Blackwood: “I agree with everything you have said and that is why we are improving the transport network. But the question here is if it is needed for this development.”

The inquiry will continue on Tuesday.