VILLAGERS have welcomed the surprise revival of a bypass plan that pre-dates the Second World War.

Residents feared the much-anticipated Marcham Bypass had been binned after more than a decade of silence since the road was last proposed.

But Vale of White Horse District Council revealed on Thursday that it had reserved land south of the village to accommodate the road, in a bid to improve air quality caused by congestion in the village.

The bypass was first proposed in the 1930s but has been consistently thwarted including by the outbreak of the Second World War and post-war austerity.

Marcham resident Marjorie Evans was among campaigners battling to secure the bypass in 2005, when Oxfordshire County Council had to abandon the plan after failing to get Government funding.

She said: “The county council prepared a first-class plan but it didn’t look as though it would materialise. There is only so much campaigning people can do. The key people pushing it retired and the energy has gone – but the need is still there and it’s even greater now.

“I hope it’s still in the drawer at County Hall. Traffic volume used to stop in the small hours of the night but now goes on constantly. The problem is still there. This [project] could pick up very quickly – and it ought to be.”

She said an exact location had never been specifically outlined for the bypass, until the Vale’s Local Plan part two was published this week.

A U-shaped line of land is reserved from the A415 Marcham Road, sweeping south down through fields and rejoining with the A415 Frilford Road at the.Oxford Road junction. A strip of land is also reserved to connect the middle of the bypass to Mill Road.

County council spokesman Martin Crabtree confirmed the bypass was back on the table as part of hopes to reduce congestion in the village, as studies have found air quality to be poor.

He said funding for the project has not been secured, as with several other major projects included in the Local Plan.

These include slip roads connecting the A34 to Milton Park and a northbound bus lane between the Lodge Hill and Hinksey interchanges on the A34.

Part two of the district council’s Local Plan – a blueprint for the area’s future – also sets out preferred housing sites to ease Oxford’s shortage, including a ‘garden village’ of 1,200 homes, schools and a community centre at Dalton Barracks in Shippon.

Madeleine Russell, chair of St Helen Without Parish Council which encompasses Shippon, said: “I’m not against it, once I got over the initial shock. I can see why the Vale are doing it; to get the housing in one fell swoop. It’s about how it’s going to be handled and if they abide by principles of sustainable housing.

“The biggest cry will be about the roads – the [diamond] interchange at Lodge Hill isn’t yet funded so everybody’s big fear will be the traffic. But the actual development is a prime spot. Very few corners have been taken out of the Green Belt. Change is going to come and we’ve got to make the most of it.”

Land is also set aside in the Local Plan for Thames Water’s huge reservoir between East Hanney, Drayton and Steventon, which the water provider confirmed yesterday is ‘still an option’ to meet needs in London.

In 2011 the Government rejected the reservoir but in 2014 Thames Water resurfaced the plan - despite opposition from reservoir campaign group GARD.

Campaign member David Bowen, who lives in East Hanney, said yesterday: “It’s completely unnecessary – there is plenty of water available.

“They should not go ahead with this. Everyone is against it and it’s going to be hideous.”

Previous £1bn plans for the reservoir suggested it would be built above ground rather than dug.