What’s happening / being planned?

Watlington Relief Road is a proposed new road through Watlington parish and neighbouring Pyrton parish in South Oxfordshire. The road capacity scheme was to be delivered by the Oxfordshire Housing & Growth Deal with no funds from county council reserves, but it was removed as a qualifying scheme early in 2024. It lost a portion of growth deal funds, leaving the project unfunded in the County’s 2024/25 budget.

The project cost increased from an overly optimistic “fully funded” £10m in 2021 to an unfunded £19.301m estimated cost in 2024. Funding from council reserves is considered as part of Oxfordshire County Council’s business planning and capital budgeting process. The County Council approved new council funding of £11.1m in its 2025/26 capital budget from a £13.620m fund to improve market towns. Estimated  costs for the unconsented scheme escalated a further £3m to £15.427m to include the scheme in the council’s 2026/27 capital programme.

The relief road would form part of a new, more attractive strategic route for long distance traffic from the west going to and from the M40, including for HGVs and LGVs. It is expected to ease issues of congestion, noise and air quality in the village but increase traffic along the route.  Bus services would continue to serve Watlington high street.

Land for a bypass at Watlington is safeguarded for a “strategic” transport scheme in the current South Oxfordshire Local Plan, justified by the strategic allocation for 3000 houses at Chalgrove Airfield. This has been deallocated in the emerging Joint Local Plan submitted for examination in December 2024.

Some sections of the relief road would take traffic through new housing estates, and would be built by house developers. These have planning permission as access roads and are not dependent on the county council completing a relief road. To build its sections, the County Council requires more housing development (to that already approved). 

The scheme would include the construction of 1.4km of road, two roundabouts, a school coach drop off and pick up and a new road bridge crossing of the Chalgrove Brook, chalk stream.