A date has been announced for the start of works on a junction at the centre of a 13-year campaign.

Oxfordshire County Council has issued speed restrictions for Shores Green/High Cogges to allow construction of two new westbound slip roads on to the A40 from Witney.

They will allow traffic to join the A40 going west, easing town centre congestion particularly at Bridge Street - one of two areas in West Oxfordshire falling short of national air quality standards.

Speed restrictions start on September 7, 2024, and Oxfordshire County Council said it expects to complete the project towards the end of 2025.

Labour and Co-operative councillor Duncan Enright who has led calls to see the junction built, said: "It can't come soon enough."

He said: “Like my neighbours, I am very impatient to see Shores Green junction built. I regularly call to nag the very patient project manager, and I can’t wait for the diggers to get spades in the ground.

"When the team starts work I want to go and watch regularly from the top of the hill.

"This will make journeys much easier, and reduce the need to queue through Witney town centre.”

The total cost of the scheme is estimated to be £13.9million funded by a combination of Housing and Growth Deal (HGD) funds and Section 106 developer contributions.

A major new housing development in East Witney, which is part of the West Oxfordshire Local Plan, will contribute over £6million to the cost.

At a meeting last June where plans for the junction were approved some concerns were raised about rat running and increased traffic by South Leigh and High Cogges parish council.

However, the county council committed to providing traffic calming measures for South Leigh if residents asked for them.

Conservative councillor Liam Walker, shadow cabinet member for transport management at Oxfordshire County Council, said: “I’m pleased the county council have continued to progress this scheme put into the A40 improvement plan by the previous Conservative administration.

"It is, however, a shame that essentially this has only got approval because the district council didn’t bother to appeal the 450 homes in Witney East last month where a contribution of £6.6million is due to made from that housing site towards the Shores Green scheme."

West Oxfordshire District Council was due to defend its decision to refuse 450 homes on  Cogges Triangle and Cogges South at an appeal in May.

But it withdrew as, it said, the plans had been greatly improved, it could no longer prove it can supply enough land to meet housing need for the next five years, likely costs and the deadline to present its evidence came too soon for it to re-establish itself after the local elections.

Mr Walker said Mr Enright "was oddly very quiet about this housing site" and "not keen to remind people he opposed the original Cogges Link Road plan which would have relieved congestion in Witney 13 years ago.” 

The proposed Cogges Link Road, which first won planning permission nearly 30 years ago in 1997, would have looped around Cogges estate, from Oxford Hill to Station Lane.

Building the road was part of the agreement with the developer to build Madley Park estate.

However, campaigners against it said a four-way A40 junction at Shores Green was cheaper, had less environmental impact and achieved the same congestion reductions.

The county council disagreed and maintained a link road would better serve the town.

The fierce dispute ran for years and even led to a public inquiry costing £1.4million which the county council lost and was ordered to pay £700,000 costs.