St. Modwen, the UK’s leading developer of new communities and high-quality homes, proudly showcased progress of the new Wantage Eastern Link Road (WELR) near Kingsgrove to a selection of town, district and county councillors, as well as members of Oxfordshire County Council’s transport team.
The group walked along the route of the WELR where they were shown the new layout, including the roundabouts and the new entrance points. They were also taken on a short detour en route to enjoy the woodland walk with newly planted trees and an exercise trim trail, and had the chance to discuss the community placemaking work that has been taking place.
The road is a key part of the new Kingsgrove infrastructure, designed to reduce congestion on the rural roads and reduce traffic through Wantage town centre, linking the A417 to the east of the town with the A338 to the north. The appointed contractor is ACS Construction Group.
The councillors were impressed with how quickly the site has developed, Councillor Major Jim Sibbald, Mayor of Wantage said “I was delighted to be invited along with my fellow District and County Councillors to see the progress of the Wantage Eastern Link Road, which far exceeds what is visible to those looking in to Kingsgrove from the roadside. This key piece of infrastructure should relieve traffic congestion through Wantage.”
Senior Project Manager Tim Jones commented after the event “After working closely with Oxfordshire County Council on the scheme over the last four years, I am so pleased we were able to all get together in person to walk and talk about the WELR, and Kingsgrove as a whole, we had some valuable discussions and I look forward to welcoming them back for the grand opening.”
The WELR will provide a dedicated off road 3m cyclefootway around the entire development, and thanks to valuable feedback from Harwell Oxford Campus Bicycle Users Group, the team have made changes to the original cycle provision at the A417 roundabout to improve cycle connectivity to the south. As planned in the original council consent, it will also allow the original entrance to become solely for buses and cyclists, promoting the use of public and sustainable transport for residents.
The team are awaiting final consent for the final roundabout and the A417 connection, but hope that the first section of the road will open in the summer, with the second section finished by the end of the year. It is partly funded by Oxfordshire County Council and the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund. The third section of the road will be completed by Oxfordshire County Council.