Newly built 19-acre car park with 850 spaces to be left completely unused – despite costing council £51million

A COUNCIL has built a £51million park and ride site that might not be used by cars until 2027.

All major construction work at the 850 space car park in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, was finished in January – and landscaping completed last month.

But there will be no vehicles parking at the 19-acre site until funding is secured for the infrastructure to connect it to the A40 – potentially 2027.

The situation has arisen because of the part-cancellation of the A40 improvements programme due to cost pressures.

The planning application for the park and ride was made in April 2021 and funding from the Department of Transport (DfT) was approved in December that year.

The county council also secured funding for the access road and proposed roundabout along with other elements of the A40 improvements programme.

These included an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the park and ride and a four-mile bus lane in both directions from the park and ride to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.

But this project had to be redesigned because cost pressures, including inflation, meant it couldn’t be completed within the available budget.

However, with all the building and landscape work complete, the county council is now providing ongoing maintenance of the site as part of the current contract.

Work has to be done each week, including grass cutting, topsoiling and seeding as needed, despite no cars being able to use the site.

The changes, which were submitted in September 2023, now need to be approved by funders Homes England and the Department for Transport before work can start.

Oxfordshire County Council said it was unable to share a delivery timeline until the conclusion of these discussions.

Meanwhile construction of the park and ride started in December 2022 and was completed on time and in budget in January, apart from landscaping.

Oxfordshire County Council estimates the park and ride has the capacity to cut up to a third of the peak traffic travelling in each direction.

This comes as drivers were warned they face being trapped in “car stacking” sites near Dover in an attempt to avoid 15-hour queues.

Elsewhere, a historic bridge that is almost 200 years old is to be taken apart, restored and reassembled piece by piece following safety concerns.