PLANS to turn part of Oxford’s ring road into “an urban boulevard” look like being abandoned as doubts surround the city council’s scheme to create up to 1,200 homes at Barton West.

Oxford City Council wants to introduce a 40mph speed limit on the A40 north of the Green Road roundabout.

Oxfordshire County Council, the authority responsible for the ring road, is understood to have serious concerns about cutting the speed limit from 70mph.

And with an inquiry into the scheme just three weeks away, the two councils have been warned by planning inspector Shelagh Bussey that failure to reach agreement on the 40mph speed limit could have serious implications for the whole scheme.

The inspector, overseeing the inquiry into the Barton Area Action Plan, said: “I stress that if the county council will not agree to the proposed speed reduction it is probable that I shall find the policy unsound because it would not be implementable.”

With some of the proposed new homes fronting the A40, the speed limit is an important component of the scheme.

The proposed estate is also vital to the city council’s ambition to build more homes and its board member for development Colin Cook said the speed issue could not be allowed to scupper the scheme.

Mr Cook said: “We could put in a scheme with 50mph. It would be a less good scheme. But 40mph is not a deal breaker as far as we are concerned.”

He feared that faster traffic might mean noise mitigation measures, such as the barriers introduced on the ring road at Botley, would be needed.

He added: “It could take up housing land and mean moving houses further back, something we are not keen to do.”

Critics say the council may now be left with the worst of all worlds, building family homes facing on to a fast road to London.

With the public inquiry opening on July 16 at Oxford Town Hall, hasty modifications look inevitable.

The county council indicated that it remains far from convinced about the 40mph plan.

Spokesman Paul Smith said: “The county council is very conscious that the A40 is a strategic road linking Oxfordshire with the west of England and London.

“It is our responsibility to look out for the interests of motorists and businesses while acknowledging the city council’s perspective.”

Former Oxford Civic Society president Mark Barrington-Ward said: “The inspector has raised some serious questions. Any compromise on the speed limit just underlines the fact that making the A40 into a boulevard is flawed.

“Better conditions could be created for the new residents if the council abandoned the idea of forcing the developer to build as many homes as possible facing the A40. It really is inhumane and unwise.”

The inspector also delivered a major boost to Ruskin College, whose proposals for 150 homes on Ruskin Fields, on the other side of the ring road, were left out of the draft Barton action plan. The inspector made clear that the council should reopen talks about the Ruskin Fields.