Local Transport Plan

The Local Transport Plan for Oxfordshire was agreed at the Full Council meeting yesterday.  This has been consulted on and reviewed in the light of comments which have been made.  I had already sent in my own comments to the plan calling for improvements to be made locally to our bus services and to push for re-opening Grove station.

The Conservative ruling group have recorded their opposition to the High Speed Rail link (HS2), which is interesting as it is the coalition government who are promoting the scheme.   However, the East West Rail link has now been given the official go ahead which is certainly good news and something Liberal Democrats have campaigned for.  

Yesterday, some amendments were approved to the Plan, which should benefit the local area on the basis that with Science Vale UK on our doorstep and cited as a major employer as part of the Local Enterprise Zone, improved public transport is needed to get there.  This should include better bus services and the long-term aim of re-opening Grove railway station. 

I spoke on these issues yesterday and said that it is absolutely essential if we are to have more housing development on our doorstep, then better public transport is a must.  As  local residents know already, we have tremendous problems in the village with car parking as many households have two or more cars.   The County Council is now supposed to be making a business plan for the station, which is something I had proposed in our alternative budget in February.

The photograph above shows a train hurtling under the bridge on the A338 by Williams F1.  Let us hope that sometime in the future they may be stopping!