CIVIC leaders have welcomed plans for a new £125m road and Thames crossing to improve links between Didcot and Culham Science Centre.

The new route was listed as one of the key aspirations in South Oxfordshire District Council's successful bid in December for Garden Town status.

Over the next 15 years, according to the bid document, 20,000 new jobs will be created, alongside 15,050 new homes.

Now county council officers have put forward proposals for a new route to relieve congestion as new homes are built and jobs created.

Two alternative routes, both crossing the Thames, have been proposed, starting from the northern perimeter road in Didcot.

Route one would start west of the rail line and run parallel to it until it reached the A415 near Culham Science Centre.

The alternative route would also start from the northern perimeter road, east of the rail line, and link up with the A415.

SODC leader John Cotton said: "Once the route has been finalised local people will be consulted and I hope that will happen in the next year or so.

"There is lots of preliminary work to be done but this is now on the agenda in a way it was not a year ago and it's good news for Didcot, Culham and the whole of South Oxfordshire.

"I am pushing very hard for these infrastructure improvements."

Labour town councillor for Didcot Margaret Davies said: "This new route will join up Didcot and Culham Science Centre, and if Didcot is going to get all this new housing it needs to have this new infrastructure."

A document outlining plans for the new route said: "The county council has recently undertaken an appraisal of the corridor between Culham Science Centre and Didcot to look at providing a new road link and river crossing.

"Scheme costs are currently estimated at £125m.

"The new road and river crossing are a vital element of Didcot’s development as a Garden Town.

"It is expected that more funding will become available to help deliver the infrastructure required as a result of the planned growth in and around the town and in the wider Science Vale area.

"Further work will now be done to develop the two preferred alignments, to understand any further constraints and costs.

"During this design stage, full public consultation will be undertaken."

The report said completing the new road link, including design, public consultation, planning and securing funding, was likely to take about a decade before construction could start.

This fits in the timeframe of growth for the Science Vale area, which is in the Local Plan timescale up to 2031.

Major housing and employment growth is planned for the Science Vale area, with 50,000 new residents anticipated by 2031.

The report added: "Growth of this magnitude would create unsustainable pressure on the existing highway and public transport network."

Last year civic leaders in Abingdon said they hoped a new river crossing in the Culham area, flagged up in a draft Science Vale Area Action Plan, could relieve congestion in Abingdon town centre.