The contractor working to connect sewers for the new North Abingdon housing had a permit to carry out roadworks on Oxford Road from 28 April to 17 September 2025. However, progress has stalled once again.

The delay follows the discovery of an uncharted water main, which now requires a further redesign in coordination with Thames Water. This comes after an earlier redesign caused the project to be postponed to this summer.

In response, Oxfordshire County Council has cancelled the permit and told the developer to clear the site and return with a revised plan. As a result, it now appears that the works at the Oxford Road roundabout will not be completed any time soon — though this does not affect the A34 interchange, only the Oxford Road and roundabout.

The County Council told the contractor to fully open the road by 23 June. As this deadline has not been met (see picture from today – 25 June 2025), overrun penalties now apply:
* £5,000 per day for the first three days
* £10,000 per day thereafter

The County Council has pointed out that the work has broken some of the agreed rules of the permit, including:
* No one was on site to manage traffic by hand when needed
* Work was done outside the allowed hours
* A safe temporary crossing for pedestrians wasn’t provided
* There were long periods with no work happening and no explanation given

The Council has made it clear that while essential infrastructure work is supported, it must be done responsibly, transparently, and to a high standard.

County and Town Councillors and Highways Officers have played a role in pressing for a new plan for the works and fully opening the road.

A sinkhole that appeared in Abingdon on Friday 13 June has been repaired within four working days. Traffic flow through the town, which had been disrupted due to temporary traffic management, returned to normal on Thursday 19 June, earlier than the expected completion date of Friday 20 June.

The hole was reported by a member of the public on Friday evening. An on-call team from Oxfordshire County Council’s principal highways contractor, M Group, discovered that the hole was over 1.2 metres deep and showing widening cracks. They immediately made the area safe, erecting barriers and signs to alert public to the hole. To reduce risk of traffic vibrations worsening the hole, two-way traffic lights were put in place to ensure public safety.

A technical inspection on Monday 16 June showed no clear cause of the sinkhole. Highways teams worked over a four-day period to repair the hole and to install new kerbing and added a ‘fluted’ channel to divert surface water from the footway to reduce the risk of further damage.

While working on the site the team discovered a horse’s jawbone and tooth, believed to have been there for over 100 years.

Thanks to Marc from Oxfordshire County Council for the update and images.

A hole – described by one passer-by as ‘the size of a plate’ — led to the partial closure of the top of Bridge Street on Saturday.

Temporary traffic lights were installed on both Stert Street and Bridge Street to manage the resulting single-lane traffic, causing delays. A yellow board was placed over the hole, with barriers blocking access to both the pavement and the affected section of road.

Another passer-by was baffled that such a small hole could cause so much disruption. ‘Sinkhole? That’s a joke!’ said someone else.

Workmen from Oxfordshire County Council were on site today, Tuesday. They have excavated a larger section to investigate the cause of the subsidence and covered the hole again — at least for now.

Preparatory work has been underway for the past couple of weeks before the construction of new south-facing slip roads onto the A34 at Lodge Hill. These works began in mid-May and are expected to continue for approximately eight weeks.

Vegetation has been cleared, including trees, near the private access road to Egertons.

A temporary builder’s compound is also being set up off the private access road to Egertons.

Utility diversions are also happening.

The main construction is likely to start in late summer 2025 and continue until winter 2026.

Work has recommenced — following a delay — on the installation of sewers for the new North Abingdon housing developments. This work is expected to be completed by the end of September 2025. Traffic lights are in place at the top of Oxford Road, with other work near the Oxford Road roundabout.