New recycling centre 'will not increase traffic'

A new £6m household waste recycling centre (HWRC) will be "accessible to more people" and not increase traffic, a council's environment boss has said.

Oxfordshire County Council wants to build a modern HWRC next to the Bicester Park and Ride site by 2030, in the process replacing a 40-year-old facility at Ardley.

Laura Gordon, the authority's cabinet member for environment and economy, told the BBC: "Essentially it would reroute traffic rather than increasing it is our belief."

The council said "detailed traffic and queue capacity and road-safety impacts on the surrounding highway network" would be fully assessed as part of the planning application.

Some local residents have raised concerns about the impact on the Vendee Drive roundabout, as the council's currently preferred access point for vehicles is from a new junction on the road leading up to it.

But the council believes the site layout "along with the booking system and access arrangements will manage and provide sufficient space to meet peak demand safely".

Gordon said: "We're already doing some work on what can be done to improve that roundabout, both for traffic flow and safety reasons."

Planning permission for Ardley ends on 30 December, although the council is seeking an extension through to March 2031 to give it time to develop the new site.

"Given the growing population around Bicester and also Kidlington, there's a real need for a site that is closer and more accessible to more people," Gordon said.

"The site that's been identified is much closer to Bicester, which means more people will be able to get to the tip easily."

She described it as a "reasonably large site" and "relatively isolated from existing settlements".

"It's separated from Bicester by a road and from a good bit of green space which will be a community forest to separate it from the nearby village in Chesterton.

"So it's been identified as a strong candidate for a potential site which we'll be working up in more detail."

The new facility will also include a reuse shop where suitable items can be sold.

The proposals will be subject to consultations and planning permission.

Oxfordshire's HWRCs, where residents can bring household waste, are situated in Oxford, Stanford in the Vale, Crowmarsh Gifford, Stanton Harcourt, Drayton, Ardley and Alkerton.