THE county council’s Labour group has reaffirmed its opposition to any potential £3bn Oxford to Cambridge expressway.

The Government’s National Infrastructure Commission has said the new road is a key part of development in what experts say could make the land between the two cities the UK’s equivalent of California’s Silicon Valley.

But Labour group leader Liz Brighouse said the issue had been discussed and her councillors had decided money would better spent on alternatives.

Mrs Brighouse said: “The group agreed that given that we were committed to improving air quality, reducing the reliance on individual journeys by car and improving other forms of traffic in order to do this, we are opposed to building this road.

“This was backed up by the fact that the East-West Rail Route would give the same connectivity and opportunities for new affordable housing without the environmental impact.”

She said her own Churchill and Lye Valley division was ‘already clogged with traffic’ and that residents are worried this could get worse.

Mrs Brighouse added: “This expressway will follow a London-centric route for London commuters.

“It will do nothing to house the nurses, carers and teachers we are losing to more affordable areas.”

Highways England will announce its preferred corridor from three, all of which will cut through Oxfordshire, later this year.