Buses
The services from Eynsham have largely reverted to how they were pre-Botley Road closure (S1 to Oxford via Farmoor, S2 along the A40), with the addition of much enhanced X52 expresses and the H2 from Spareacre Lane to Summertown, Hospitals, Headington and Thornhill P&R. I have been receiving some complaints from some residents, mostly from Cassington but also some from Eynsham. The Stagecoach services operate without subsidy. Stagecoach are free to determine their own route and timetable. They have taken the view that not bringing an A40 route through the village makes sense, which will have been based on levels of usage and on shortening the routes to save time.
This does mean that people wanting to get to North Oxford have a worse service than they did during the Botley Road closure, but I would recommend using the H2 and changing in Summertown.
The County Council has regular meetings with the bus companies, and Stagecoach are aware that some potential users are unhappy.
Coaches and aeroplanes
A long term ticket policy for Thornhill was approved by the County Council last week.There will be an 8- and 15-day ticket available (for £15 and £30 respectively) commencing in the Spring. That will make it easier to use the coach to Heathrow and Gatwick. The H2 also connects with the airport and London buses at Thornhill and at Brookes.
A40
As you will have seen, work is well underway to clear greenery prior to the creation of the Park&Ride junction, the planned improvements at Cassington lights and Eynsham roundabout, and the new bus lanes to Cassington. These changes will make a substantial difference to journey times for people both in cars and on buses. The section over Dukes Cut has proven to be more complex than originally expected, and will be completed after the western sections. The whole project was, as I have explained frequently, badly conceived and underfunded from its initiation under the previous administration. We need to get it up and running as far as it can be, as soon as possible.
Barnard Gate
The new ‘no right turn’ onto the A40 has been in place now for a few months. The County County has been tracking vehicle movements via a camera on several dates. The most recent showed that the right turns on to the A40 have dropped from 225 to 12 on the main junction and 12 to 2 on the eastern one per day. That is hugely effective.
You will recall that, previously, there were numerous collisions there, with four serious injury collisions involving vehicles turning out of Barnard Gate on to the A40, recorded etween Jan 2019 and June 2025.
This improvement has been achieved via the new layout and signage, and the opening of the Shores Green junction.
Local Government reorganisation
We are expecting a government announcement sometime soon on this. In the meantime, the County Council has issued the first part of a Judicial review, in order to get the government to show the criteria under which it came to the original decision to have 3 unitary authorities. In the meantime, there will be a district council election in May; this hasn’t been expected.
This stuff matters. ‘3UA’ will never break even, it will create additional complexity and put key services like Adult Social Care at risk. It would put Eynsham in an authority dominated by and almost certainly headquartered in Banbury. It would also give Oxford City Council more control and may not produce the results everyone wants with housing. Vale, WODC and Cherwell are all in the top authorities delivering affordable housing. Oxford City Council is not. As ever, I can be contacted at
[email protected]