IMPROVED walking and cycling networks across Oxford must follow any building of the Oxford Cambridge Expressway, the city council has said.

A decision on which corridor Highways England will use to build the new road – which could be open as soon as 2030 – is due this summer.

Green Party councillor Dick Wolff asked for support on a motion to strongly oppose any building of the expressway and potential expansion of Oxford Airport.

Instead, council leader Susan Brown submitted an amendment, which was accepted by the council – despite Rev Wolff denouncing it as a ‘dog’s dinner’.

Ms Brown said while the city council should be in favour of improving the road network, better pedestrian and cycle networks should be delivered alongside it.

She said at the meeting on Monday: “We have already as a council signed up to the Growth Deal. I think it is important to emphasise that we have always thought that integrated transport systems and pedestrian and cycle routes are the most important things and we insist on making those the priority.

“However, we have also acknowledged that there are needs to improve the road infrastructure across Oxfordshire as part of the necessary infrastructure for the housing that we need for people in the city and beyond. We need to make sure they are able to live in the homes we would wish them to live in in the future.”

But Green councillor Craig Simmons said the expressway would be defined as 'a trunk road with similar characteristics to a motorway, so it’s clear it’s not a few tweaky junction improvements' and that it could severely impact on air quality.

His party colleague Rev Wolff said Ms Brown’s amendment had changed the tone of his motion.

Highways England has attracted ire from some expressway campaigners because it has not consulted the general public on its corridor choices at all. It will only do so once a preferred corridor has been picked.

Of three potential corridors in which the route will run, one cuts south of Oxford and the other two could involve land all around the city.

Labour’s Alex Hollingsworth said it was clear ‘nothing we will say or do will make a difference to Highways England’s decision-making process’ and that the lack of consultation reflected the agency’s ‘opacity’.

He added: “The reason we are in this position is that the Government is prioritising the expressway to generate some economic growth somewhere in this country to pay for the shambles of Brexit.”

The new road is a key plank of anticipated growth between Oxford and Cambridge, which could see another one million residents in the ‘arc’ by 2050.