OXFORDSHIRE County Council has warned it will lodge a formal objection to a £260m plan to create a second Oxford-London railway route unless it receives assurances on a number of issues.

Chiltern Railways wants to start running services to London Marylebone, via a new connecting line in Bicester, and to build a new station alongside the Water Eaton park-and-ride centre, just outside Kidlington, as part of its project, called Evergreen 3.

The scheme, due for completion by 2013, has been welcomed by the council. But a report by head of transport Steve Howell has highlighted 10 areas of concern, particularly the new station at Water Eaton.

Mr Howell has called on the Government’s Transport Secretary Philip Hammond “to treat these areas of concern as a formal objection, until they have been resolved to the satisfaction of the county council”.

Chiltern’s plans would see the 850-space Water Eaton car park almost double in size, with provision for a further 200 spaces if needed.

Kidlington residents fear rush-hour traffic problems on roads between the village and Oxford could get even worse when the new railway station opens.

They already face long tailbacks on the busy A4165 Oxford Road during rush hours.

Kidlington parish councillor Andrew Hornsby-Smith said: “We’re in a really difficult situation.

“We think it’s great to have a station so near, but we want to make sure the mitigation measures are absolutely right and based on an accurate model of the traffic.

“The congestion could get considerably worse if they’re doubling the size of the park-and-ride.”

Nick Cottam, of consultants ERM, who are working on the project for Chiltern, said the Rail firm was working with councils and communities along the line between Oxford and Bicester to resolve concerns ahead of a public inquiry into the project. That is expected to be held in early November.

Mr Cottam added that computer simulations by traffic consultants showed many of the problems in Oxford Road stemmed from the layout of the road junctions leading into the Water Eaton park-and-ride site.

He said Chiltern was proposing a new single junction to handle the extra traffic to and from the station and park-and-ride, which would reduce the current queues.

He added: “The new rail service will allow more people to commute from Bicester to Oxford by rail and therefore take traffic off the road, helping to ease congestion.”

Ian Hudspeth, the county council’s cabinet member for growth and infrastructure, said: “We do need the things which we have identified to be ironed out before the scheme moves forward, for the good of local communities.”

The concerns will be debated at a full county council meeting at County Hall, in New Road, Oxford, at 10am on Tuesday, June 15.

No official objection to the rail project can be lodged without the formal approval of councillors.

  • For more information about the plan, see Chiltern's Evergreen3 website