Agenda item

Cabinet Member: Highway Management

Forward Plan Ref: 2021/052

Contact: Aron Wisdom, Programme Lead (HIF1) Tel: 07776 244856

Report by Director of Growth and Economy (CA14).

The Didcot Garden Town Housing Infrastructure Fund programme (hereon in referred to as HIF1) is to fund £218m of a £234m package of measures (the remaining funding - circa £16m - will come from developer obligations either held or secured by Oxfordshire County Council via section 106 agreements. Any funds not held at the time of construction will be forward funded by Oxfordshire County Council) consisting of four separate but interdependent highways schemes:

(a)              A4130 widening from Milton Interchange to a new Science Bridge by making it a dual carriageway;

(b)              a new Didcot Science Bridge from the A4130 over the Great Western Railway Mainline into the Didcot ‘A’ Power Station site and re-joining the A4130 Northern Perimeter Road north of the Purchas Road/Hawksworth roundabout;

(c)               a new river crossing and link road between the A4130 at Didcot and A415 at Culham, including two new bridges;

(d)              a Clifton Hampden Bypass between the A415 at Culham Science Centre and B4015 north of Clifton Hampden.

The primary focus of HIF1 is to provide additional highway capacity and connectivity to resolve long-standing capacity constraints that is preventing new homes and jobs allocated in local plans from coming forward in a timely manner. Additionally, the infrastructure will include high quality and completely segregated cycling and pedestrian facilities. Coupled with creating the right environment for enhanced bus services in the area, the new infrastructure will provide residents with real mode choice.

Land assembly is a key driver to project delivery and hence the report outlines the in principle use of various statutory powers to mitigate this risk to the Council, as far as is reasonably practicable.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)       approve in principle the development of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x]. Negotiations for private acquisition will be conducted in parallel to the compulsory purchase process. Powers of compulsory purchase will be used only as a matter of last resort, in order to bring forward the timely development of the Housing Infrastructure Fund 1 (HIF1) project. Formal authority for the making of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] will be reported to Cabinet following the submission of a planning application for the scheme;

(b)       approve the preparation and service of statutory notices for the Requisition of Information pursuant to Section 16 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (as amended) to assist with determining the interests in the land required for the delivery of the scheme;

(c)       approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] in draft, together with a draft Order Map, draft Order Schedule, draft Statement of Reasons and all necessary land referencing activity in advance of seeking formal authority to make the Order;

(d)       approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot to Culham Thames Bridge) Scheme 202[x] in accordance with section 106(3) of The Highways Act 1980 (as amended) in relation to a new road overbridge crossing of the River Thames, being a navigable waterway;

(e)       approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot Garden Town Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF1) – A4130 Improvement) (Side Roads) Order 202[x] (or multiple Side Roads Orders as may be necessary), and The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot Garden Town Highways Infrastructure – A4130 Improvement) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] to enable the stopping-up, diversion, amendment, improvement and creation of new lengths of highway or reclassification of existing highways. Please note that the final titles of the orders will be determined as the project progresses and will be updated in this report accordingly. This includes the stopping up of private means of access as necessary where the scheme design necessitates. Formal approval for the making of Side Roads Order(s) will be reported to Cabinet, and necessary approval sought, following the submission of a planning application for the scheme.

Cabinet was asked to consider a series of proposals to facilitate this programme  the primary focus of which was to provide additional highway capacity and connectivity to resolve long-standing capacity constraints that were preventing new homes and jobs allocated in local plans from coming forward in a timely manner.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Cabinet Member for Travel and Development Strategy, described the proposal, which also applied to the Didcot area, as rather technical, giving officers the tools they needed – for example Compulsory Purchase Orders – to move to the next stage of development.  There were no detailed plans to be decided at this point.

RESOLVED to:

(a)             approve in principle the development of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x]. Negotiations for private acquisition will be conducted in parallel to the compulsory purchase process. Powers of compulsory purchase will be used only as a matter of last resort, in order to bring forward the timely development of the Housing Infrastructure Fund 1 (HIF1) project. Formal authority for the making of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] will be reported to Cabinet following the submission of a planning application for the scheme;

(b)             approve the preparation and service of statutory notices for the Requisition of Information pursuant to Section 16 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 (as amended) to assist with determining the interests in the land required for the delivery of the scheme;

(c)             approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Access to Didcot Garden Town) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] in draft , together with a draft Order Map, draft Order Schedule, draft Statement of Reasons and all necessary land referencing activity in advance of seeking formal authority to make the Order;

(d)             approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot to Culham Thames Bridge) Scheme 202[x] in accordance with section 106(3) of The Highways Act 1980 (as amended) in relation to a new road overbridge crossing of the River Thames, being a navigable waterway;

(e)             approve the preparation of The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot Garden Town Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF1) – A4130 Improvement) (Side Roads) Order 202[x] (or multiple Side Roads Orders as may be necessary), and The Oxfordshire County Council (Didcot Garden Town Highways Infrastructure – A4130 Improvement) Compulsory Purchase Order 202[x] to enable the stopping-up, diversion, amendment, improvement and creation of new lengths of highway or reclassification of existing highways. Please note that the final titles of the orders will be determined as the project progresses and will be updated in this report accordingly. This includes the stopping up of private means of access as necessary where the scheme design necessitates. Formal approval for the making of Side Roads Order(s) will be reported to Cabinet, and necessary approval sought, following the submission of a planning application for the scheme.