Homes England has entered into a Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) with Oxfordshire County Council to provide £17.3 million of infrastructure grant funding for the A34 Lodge Hill Interchange scheme.
Vale of White Horse District Council had initially granted planning approval for the Abbey Fields development site in north Abingdon for approximately 950 dwellings. However, as local roads were already at capacity, until Oxfordshire County Council was able to fund and contract works to improve the existing Lodge Hill junction on the A34, housing development would stop.
With grant funding from Homes England, the scheme aims to improve junction capacity at Lodge Hill and means work on the remaining 820 homes on the Abbey Fields site can go ahead. It will allow for shorter journey times by adding new south-facing slip roads to the A34, taking traffic off congested Abingdon town centre roads. The current junction only has north-facing slip roads and is located between Abingdon and Oxford.
Pauline Schaffer, Director of Infrastructure Funding at Homes England said:
We are pleased to have now entered into contract with Oxfordshire County Council. Our multimillion-pound funding will provide strategic transport infrastructure, unlocking 820 homes in north Abingdon and supporting wider housing and economic growth in the area. We are committed to working with ambitious local authority partners seeking to meet their local housing needs through delivery of key infrastructure.
Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Development Strategy, said:
The A34 Lodge Hill scheme will improve connectivity to and from the north of Abingdon, avoiding the town centre and making it easier for people to choose walking, cycling or taking public transport as part of their daily routine.
Securing funding from Homes England and appointing a design and build contractor represents major milestones for the project, and the council is now in a strong position to accelerate towards construction. This project has been in development for a long time and is much needed and wanted by the residents of Abingdon.
Following the GFA, Oxfordshire County Council will now enter into a contract with its selected contractor to ‘design’ and ‘build’ the scheme. Detailed design will commence in March 2024, with construction anticipated to start in Summer 2024.
