WHILE plans for another 3,500 homes around Witney are in the pipeline, it seems that hopes of tackling the town’s traffic problems remain little more than a pipe dream.

While swift action to progress improvements at the Shores Green junction was pledged after the Cogges Link Road was rejected two years ago, there has been precious little progress to date.

The council says it does not have enough money to carry out the work from its own funds and will need contributions from housing developers.

The Witney Gazette has now seen documents that indicate the council has spent £2.8m of money it had allocated to the link road on other schemes in the county.

This could have been used to fast track the Shores Green project, to ease town centre congestion before more new homes are built, rather than as a catch-up measure in a few years’ time.

But instead it has been spent elsewhere in the county, where there have been shortfalls in funding.

And there is no guarantee that £1.3m still left in council coffers from the link road budget will be used in Witney.

The council needs to assure residents that the remaining money will be used for the work at Shores Green, to help get the project finished before Witney comes to a standstill.