A NOTORIOUS stretch of road in Oxfordshire will finally get its 'appalling' potholes fixed - but campaigners warn the work is just a ‘sticking plaster’ and that a total overhaul is needed.

From July 23, a 500-metre section of the A40 from Barnard Gate towards Witney Bypass will be closed for up to five nights for crucial resurfacing.

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Drivers have vented their frustration over the past few months over the state of the stretch, branding it ‘dangerous’ and ‘appalling’.

And meanwhile MP for Witney Robert Courts is leading calls for a root and branch overhaul of the transport links in West Oxfordshire to beat the jams.

While the dual carriageway is infamous for its pothole problem, it is also one of the county's most congested routes, with up to 30,000 vehicles using it every day.

Spokesman from the Witney Oxford Transport Group (WOT) Maurizio Fantato, which campaigns for better transport links for West Oxfordshire, said traffic was so bad that his wife's commute from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital to Witney took two hours every day.

Oxford Mail:

While welcoming the resurfacing, he claimed fixing only a single stretch of the road failed to address its wider shortcomings.

He said: “Unless it’s something radical or substantial, any investment is just a sticking plaster.

“Everyone would welcome it but our concern is that only two or three stretches are resurfaced.

"The road is in such a poor state and I can’t see that the council has such significant resources to resurface all the road.

“There are always cars trying to avoid potholes and if they don’t do any work someone will lose control of their car and crash into the traffic coming in the other direction.”

In total, there have been 424 reports on website FixMyStreet about potholes on the stretch of A40 near Barnard Gate.

One of the latest posts describes the situation as being 'so bad that drivers have to slalom between the potholes and even then can't avoid them'.

Oxfordshire County Council is spending £120,000 on the improvements, with individual potholes fixed as necessary in the meantime.

Both carriageways of the A40 will be closed for 500 metres between 8pm and 5am from 23 July until work is completed, with diversions in place during those times.

Mr Fantato expressed fears that the Barnard Gate stretch would be left to deteriorate until the resurfacing takes place.

He said: “In many instances temporary repairs aren’t satisfactory and very shortly a new one appears near to the first one.

“Potholes aren’t self-healing, the longer they’re left the worse they get."

In March the government pledged £1.8m to help fix potholes in Oxfordshire, but the money for July's repairs will come out of the existing county council capital budget.

Oxford Mail:

Witney MP Mr Courts revealed he has had received several complaints from residents about the A40 and reiterated the need for long term improvements.

He said: "Constituents have raised this damaged area of road with me on a number of occasions; I have reported it to the county council and asked for it to be fixed.

"I am very pleased that they have responded to these calls: a great example of a strong local team working together to improve our area and I commend the county council for their swift response."

He added: "Although in the longer term I am fighting for upgrades on the A40 towards Witney which will involve road surface improvements, that will not be immediate.

"We do therefore need improvements to this damaged section of road now in order to secure these long-term safety benefits.

"Resurfacing will provide a more effective solution than simply patching potholes, and so will hopefully avoid more closures in the future.”

Mr Courts is proposing wholesale transport improvements for West Oxfordshire, involving upgrades to the A40 and an integrated transport network for buses and the Cotswold railway line.

He has twice addressed the issue in parliament this month, calling traffic on the busy road a 'blight for residents' during Prime Minister's Questions on May 9.

Mr Courts addressed the Commons again last Thursday as he asked for potholes to be fixed on West Oxfordshire's rural roads following the harsh winter.

Large developments planned along the A40 in West Oxfordshire have made the issue even more pressing, with a surge in the number of vehicles using the road expected in the coming years.

West Oxfordshire District Council's Local Plan, due to be ratified next month, outlines plans to build 16,000 homes in the district by 2031.

A thousand homes are currently being built to the west of Witney. Meanwhile, Gladman has applied to build a 3,000-home 'garden village' by South Leigh, near Barnard Gate.

Liam Walker, Conservative county councillor for Hanborough and Minster Lovell, welcomed the works. He said: "Myself and other councillors have been moaning about this for months so I'm pleased such a large amount is being put into a long-term solution.

“It’s a major road and it doesn’t look good that the rest of the A40 is fine and this part is particularly appalling.”

The A40 is provisionally included in the government’s Major Road Network plan, which would give the county council funding to provide upgrades and enhancements.