COUNTY councillors will be asked to send a clear signal to Government that the Oxford-Cambridge expressway is not welcome.

Two motions have been tabled by councillors urging their colleagues to either oppose any planned new road between the celebrated university cities or ensure more work is done to consider its viability.

The Government has said the road and other development between Oxford and Cambridge is vital for the area between them – or the ‘arc’ – to meet its full economic potential.

It wants to build up to one million new homes between the two cities by 2050.

John Sanders, Labour councillor for Cowley, will ask the council to oppose the road ‘on the grounds it will not benefit the people of Oxfordshire’.

Mr Sanders will say it could ‘cause damage to the countryside and unnecessary cost without reducing the impact of traffic in the area’.

He will call on the council’s leader Ian Hudspeth to ask Government to cancel the project, which is likely to cost at least £4bn.

Liberal Democrat county councillor Tim Bearder, who represents Wheatley, will ask the council to ensure more work is done into whether the road is needed.

He will say there needs to be a ‘full consultation’ before any route is considered.

Mr Bearder will say he worries the new road would ‘definitely bring more traffic’ and would not solve existing traffic problems on the A34.

The Government said a corridor in which the road would go should have been chosen by September 2018.

But it actually picked two ways around Oxford, so the road could pass east or west of the city.

A consultation and more details are expected later this year.

Mr Sanders and Mr Bearder will make their pleas over the expressway next Tuesday.