Bridge in Oxford to cost extra £3.7m due to delays
The Oxpens River Bridge which would link Oxpens Meadow to Grandpont Nature Park
A contentious bridge in Oxford will cost an extra £3.7 million to build due to delays caused by a recent judicial review, the city council has said.
The Oxpens River Bridge which would link Oxpens Meadow to Grandpont Nature Park was approved last year and was supposed to have been built by March.
Friends of Grandpont Nature Park launched a judicial review into the decision, but it was dismissed by the High Court on all five counts earlier this year.
The bridge was supposed to cost £10.3 million, but the city council estimate that it will now cost £14 million, including contingency.
The council said this was due to the inflation of construction costs caused by the delay from the judicial review, in their report ahead of the scrutiny committee meeting next Tuesday (August 5).
It adds that the council is working with potential funders including Homes England and the University of Oxford to bridge the funding gaps.
Construction works on the bridge is set to begin in early 2026 and the bridge would be craned into position in September, with a view to the bridge being completed by February 2027.
Before the £3.7 million figure was announced, Friends of Grandpont Nature Park said: “Until this year, every projected cost increase for the bridge was financed by repeatedly dipping into the Housing and Growth Deal, a county-wide fund which is supposed to facilitate affordable housing, with an additional £2.8million granted in early 2024.
“It was only when local residents started exposing the misuse of these funds (for a bridge that will do nothing for affordable housing) in the local press that the real beneficiaries of the project (Oxford University) began coughing up money of their own for the first time – to the tune of £2milion, we are told – presumably because the council were too ashamed to keep dipping into the housing fund now the spotlight was on them.
“Local residents’ efforts to expose the council’s shenanigans have thus saved the taxpayer millions – and hope to save millions more by scrapping the project altogether.”
The group has submitted an appeal against the high court decision and is waiting to hear whether it can proceed.
The report states that it is coming forward before this, so the council can “move forward quickly” if the request for an appeal is dismissed and when the extra funding has been approved.
The city council say the bridge would provide a walking and recycling route between Osney Mead and Oxpens, with both areas set for regeneration with new homes and jobs.
Those who oppose the bridge say locals would lose a cherished nature park and that there is already a bridge a short distance away that could be fixed instead.
Existing funding for the bridge consists of £8.8 million from the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, and £1.5million from the Housing and Infrastructure Fund from Homes England.