‘Left in the dark’ over Gateway plans

A Didcot leader has said councillors and residents are being ‘left in the dark’ over delayed £60 million plans to redevelop land around Didcot Parkway station.Plans for a major revamp of the area, labelled Didcot Gateway, include building 300 homes, a 70-bed hotel, and a gym on land opposite the station.A planning application was submitted in June by South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) to their own officers, as the decision-makers on planning matters.But with a target decision date of October 16 having passed, residents and councillors are appealing for information on what is happening.The redevelopment would see homes, offices, a hotel, restaurant, gym, and a café built on a site opposite the station currently used for station parking, The Prince of Wales pub, now-closed Julians car dealership, Lydalls Nursery School, Didcot Labour Club and Soha Housing company offices.While a multi-storey car park to serve the homes would be built where Station Flooring shop and the Great Western Railway Staff Association social club stands.The plans include building a new nursery and Soha offices.SODC spokesman Natalie Ellis told the Guardian last week the council is working on technical queries brought up by a consultation on the plans.But she could not estimate how long the plans could be delayed for or give detail about what changes could be brought up in a new consultation.Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) filed a response to the plans on August 28 supporting the redevelopment but raising concerns about traffic and designs for the new nursery, which it says it too small.OCC called for extra traffic surveys at key junctions in Station Road and two extra bus stops on the south side of the road, opposite Didcot Parkway railway station’s bus interchange.