HIF1: Rejected road scheme goes before public inquiry

HIF1 envisions a link between Didcot and Clifton Hampden

Plans for a £279m Oxfordshire road project have gone before a public inquiry.

The HIF1 scheme would create a dual carriageway on the A4130 from the A34 Milton Interchange towards Didcot, new bridges, and a Clifton Hampden bypass.

The proposals were called in for review by the government after the county council's planning committee rejected them last year.

The final decision will be made by cabinet minster Michael Gove.

The planning committee, which is independent of council leadership, voted against the scheme, despite recommendations from planning officers that it should be approved.

The council is now arguing its case in front of the Planning Inspectorate at the 26-day inquiry.

Cabinet member Judy Roberts said the project was about improving connections between the science employment sites of Harwell, Milton Park, and Culham, where thousands of new homes are being built.

She said: "The traffic tends to run through several old villages with old bridges with traffic lights on, and this project will provide a route that links all the way across with a separate cycle track, a separate footpath, as well as better bus provision."

She said the aim was "to reduce congestion that's already in the area and predicted to become worse" and "make it safer for all modes of transport".

'Unaffordable'

Discussing the budget of the project, she said: "I don't think anyone actually knows the final costs."

She said while there was a contingency within the budget, the "longer the delay, the greater the cost will be".

Greg O'Broin, of Appleford Parish Council, told the BBC the scheme would not solve congestion.

He also described it as "unaffordable" and said: "It's very unusual in the fact that this was a rejected application.

"The councillors could see the flaws, they didn't believe the traffic data, so we reckon we've got a good chance."

Oxfordshire Roads Action Alliance (ORAA) has raised £22,000 to contest the plans.

Chris Church, a member of ORAA and Oxford Friends of the Earth, said: "This is the biggest road scheme since the M40 was built.

"To say it's got a pavement and a cycle track doesn't really amount to massively sustainable transport options."

He said upgrading the train stations at Culham and Appleford would be more useful than "having to cycle alongside a high speed road".

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