A councillor has slammed the “out of touch” committee which rejected plans for a multi-million pound transport network scheme affecting Didcot.

Cllr Mocky Khan said he was “bewildered” after Oxfordshire County Council’s planning committee voted against the £269m Housing Infrastructure Fund programme (HIF1) at a meeting last Tuesday, July 18.

Cllr Khan has called for an extraordinary meeting with Didcot Town Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, both of which he sits on, to discuss the decision and promised the meetings would be "explosive."

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“My reaction was disbelief, and I couldn’t understand how it happened. I was very surprised and a bit bewildered by the decision,” he said.

“In Didcot, HIF1 would have unlocked future funding and given us the infrastructure that we needed.

“Other areas are always getting money and Didcot is always getting forgotten about, and this would have unlocked the key.”

This is Oxfordshire: Councillor Mocky Khan in front of Great Western Park, one of new developments in Didcot he believed

This is Oxfordshire: Councillor Mocky Khan in front of Great Western Park, one of new developments in Didcot he believed

The HIF1 proposals included building a dual carriageway on the A4130 from the A34 Milton Interchange towards Didcot, new bridges, and a Clifton Hampden bypass.

After two full days of discussion, seven committee members voted against the scheme while just two were in favour.

Cllr Khan said: “What really annoyed me is people making decisions about Didcot and that affect Didcot who don’t live here and don’t understand.

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“There are so many developments happening in Didcot that are not the right things, but this would have given us a bit more control about where developments would be made. Going forward, we need to have more control about where Didcot grows.

“This was a huge amount of money that was desperately needed, and for people to make the decision to refuse it without assessing the needs of the people in the town is wrong.

“It’s been happening for the longest time. People making decisions about Didcot without living here and without knowing what we and local businesses really need.

“They are out of touch, and I have said it before.”

This is Oxfordshire:

This is Oxfordshire:

The committee’s reasons for refusal were less about the principle of the scheme and more about its details.

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They pointed to outdated traffic modelling data, which used figures from 2016/17, and questioned the detailed design of the proposed bridges.

Green Cllr Robin Bennett, county councillor for Berinsfield, was one of the committee members who voted against the plans.

He said: “I've built up a whole page of policy reasons for refusing this so far.

"A decision to refuse has consequences and I don't take them lightly at all.

"As has been commented on by both SODC and Vale planners, it's not good quality development. We have a responsibility to ensure good quality development and the Science Bridge doesn't do justice to Didcot.”