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EPIC News

A40 consultation ends Sunday midnight 4 Jan 2019 Sending your views made easy! There's not much time left, so here's help to make sure the County Council know what YOU think.

Oxfordshire County Council’s A40 consultation is open to 23:59 on Sunday 6 January 2019.

You have sung, danced and played tennis and footie in protest on the A40, but have you actually told Oxfordshire County Council in writing what YOU think about their current plans to improve it?  You may have been to their consultation exhibition in the Village Hall recently, but if you only told the Council staff your views, it is unlikely that they will have recorded them and put them into the consultation pot.

EPIC thinks that the proposals will not solve the problem, that the money could be better spent and the plans better co-ordinated. 

Please send in a response, even if you only mention a few points. Remember, you only have until this Sunday before the stroke of midnight, SO THIS IS URGENT!

You can respond online or by email; details here:

  • https://consultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/ImprovingtheA40corridor
  • Online Questionnaire: https://consultationas.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/ImprovingtheA40corridor/respondByQuestionnaire
  • The email address for responses is: A40.BuslaneProject@Oxfordshire.gov.uk

Here are some points to consider:

  • We need a more visionary and holistic approach to development of county-wide transport and other infrastructure, as well as housing and employment.
  • A40 congestion will never be solved without attractive alternatives to cars: fast, convenient public transport and cycle routes.
  • The Park and Ride offers minimal savings on bus time; in the first phase the eastbound bus route will only run to the Duke’s Cut bridge where buses will be stuck in traffic again, so it will not be attractive enough to tempt people traveling from the west out of their cars.
  • The plans show a new roundabout for the Park and Ride and several road crossings, but do not show new access roads and roundabouts for the garden village and west Eynsham; the roads will have to be changed again when and if the housing goes ahead.  
  • It would make more sense to delay the Park and Ride until the area has been properly redesigned as part of a considered Oxfordshire wide strategy, to avoid repeated disruption.  
  • In the first phase, a bus lane from Witney could be just as effective without the Park and Ride.
  • Many cyclists would prefer the cycle lane to be on the south side of the A40 to avoid oncoming headlights at night.
  • A bus lane all the way to Wolvercote roundabout with bus priority at the bridges would be a good first phase. 
  • Other priorities for the first phase would be the B4044 community path (indicated in the second phase) and connection to the A40 along the eastern bypass and the A40/canal link near Oxford.  These could be effective quickly and should not be affected by later road work to the A40 associated with planned housing development.
  • The 1000 car capacity of the Park and Ride is insignificant when we know that around 13,000 cars travel toward Oxford on the A40 every day and that this is likely to double if the planned housing development along the A40 takes place. 

You can find the full EPIC response in the document below.

Bikesafe, campaigning for the B4044 Community Path also have some useful pointers on the Bikesafe website: http://www.b4044path.org/breakthrough/ 

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