Witney has grown at an astonishing rate in the last 20 years from a community of 8,000 to almost 25,000! The Town, District and County Councils seem reluctant to include the community in plans for this rapid expansion, and seem hell bent on pushing through the Cogges Link Road, despite strong local opposition and in the face of numerous reports which question its’ necessity when there are cheaper options, options that don’t create such environmental damage, which quite possibly will do more to alleviate some of the traffic issues, and which won’t pollute areas of population. So, why do we feel so strongly? Please read on.

The long-awaited countdown to a Cogges Link Road, Witney, is about to start. Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet was urged to go ahead with a planning application for the £16.4m road at a meeting on 27 March 2008. There were two alternatives to CLR, one would have gone from Newland to Witan Way, but WODC rushed through development of the Aquarius Housing site to stop this being a viable option, and we all witnessed the flooding down there last year. The other option is the Shores Green scheme which improves the junction of the A40 at the top of Oxford Hill so that traffic from north and west Witney can turn east to Cheltenham and beyond without going through town and allows traffic to come off the A40 into Witney this way too.

OCC have decided go ahead with the planning application for the Cogges Link Road despite the negative impact on the local environment and, while it may alleviate some of the traffic problems in Bridge Street, will do little to ease Witney's traffic problems as a whole and , indeed, is likely to create new ones at other points in the town centre.

In February 2008 County Councillor David Robertson, cabinet member for transport, acknowledged that the Cogges Link scheme would be treated as one the alternatives for consideration by OCC rather than a fait accompli. However that clearly is not the case.

The campaign against this environmentally destructive link road has been underway for more than ten years. Although it still remains the County Council's preferred option, a recent online poll by the Oxford Times showed that people are almost evenly divided over whether the planned project should go ahead or a four-way junction built instead at Shores Green on the Witney bypass.

OCC have just submitted their planning proposal for Cogges, so they have no intention of listening to these views or the reports. They have also submitted the plans in the height of holiday season and when many councilors and the public are on holiday. The public officially had just 3 weeks to submit their views and now this meant by September 9th! They have not openly publicized their plans and will not officially present their plans to the public until mid October!

SO WHY ARE WE SO AGAINST THIS SCHEME?

COST
CLR will cost almost £17 million. Shores less than half that…originally just £3 million! What could the Councils be using this money better for, to serve this community! £2.5 million of compulsory land purchase for CLR and less than £0.25 million for Shores Road alone. How much can't they find for Cogges Manor Farm Museum- £250,000 a year! 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
CLR is over a mile long, will completely destroy another area of the Windrush Valley, raising a single carriageway more than 5m in certain parts and more than 45 feet at its' base, through beautiful water meadows and will slash the public park there in two.

The raised road will also mean that all the local communities will be subject to much increased noise and air pollution. Fact.

CLR is to be built on a floodplain. The road will essentially be a dam across this, with just 2 bridges for any flood water to pass through. We all witnessed what a build up of water can do in the floods in 2007 and 2008. Witney’s rapid expansion in the last 20 years means that built on land has increased 3 fold in this time…water needs to go somewhere, and the climate is only going to get warmer and wetter. Fact. Shores Road does not endanger us in any of these ways.

The Councils say they will find extra public land to make up for the loss..however the current parkland is wedged in between the A40 and the river, so there is no extra land coming, and let’s not forget the promises of green land at the Marriotts development which hasn’t happened despite a 2000 strong petition from local people, and the promises when Mill Street developments were agreed to reinstate the old public swimming baths in the river there…again it has never materialized so we can not trust WODC to do this. Shores Green on the other hand has almost no environmental impact.

ALLEVIATION OF TRAFFIC CONGESTION
The inspector into the Local Plan recommended last year that the CLR scheme should be dropped, What is particularly frustrating is the determination of both WODC and OCC to stick with a scheme which is now some 25 years old, despite major changes in Witney which pose serious questions about how effective it would be in solving traffic problems.

The Councils have deliberately made in it very difficult to get hold of the information. However in the reports inside OCCs Cogges Link application, the startling facts are:

Bridge Street, Witney
Both CLR and SG give traffic reductions during am and pm of between 46% and 57%, CLR being just marginally better than Shores.

HOWEVER!

Witan Way Roundabout, Witney. (Also known as the Sainsbury’s Roundabout)
The SG option will deliver a 10% reduction in traffic at ‘Witan Way South’ in am, and a 4% increase in pm during 2011. This compares with CLR which immediately INCREASES traffic by 87% in am, and 57% in pm.

Cogges Link will only serve to move the problem to Witan Way, an area already bogged town in rush hour…and increase traffic by 87%! By 2026, SG will show a 12% increase in am, and a 25% increase in pm. Conversely CLR will have raised traffic levels by another massive 122% and 78% respectively.

'Station Lane East'
On the ‘Station Lane East’ side of the roundabout, the figures are equally revealing. Whilst SG gives an am reduction of 3.5% in traffic flow in 2011, CLR INCREASES this level by 82%.  Afternoon figures show CLR raising volume by 55%, SG by under 20%.

We haven’t even mentioned that Cogges Link will also mean 2 sets of traffic lights barely 50 yards apart on Cogges Hill Road…can you imagine the congestion there for all the residents trying to leave in the morning!

These figures are actually in their planning application…as you can see it makes no sense at all to continue with Cogges Link plans, however your Councillors are determined to!

We need your support to stop this madness. Please click here for more info.