Planning problems are preventing motorists from using the 19-acre park-and-ride scheme in Eynsham until funding is secured to link it to the A40.

Aerial photographs show the 850-space site devoid of vehicles, despite its finished glossy tarmac, bus stops and green spaces. All major construction work was finished in January, followed by landscaping last month.

Although the car park could be cut off from the main road until 2027, local authorities have contracts to maintain it every week, cutting the grass and topsoiling and seeding when necessary.

Oxfordshire County Council had informed residents that once complete, motorists would “benefit from 24-hour security, dedicated cycle storage, public toilets and electric vehicle parking bays” at the site, which would be accessible around the clock. It would “provide regular and reliable public transport services into Oxford”.

However, according to The Times, the car park cannot open after cost pressures caused the part-cancellation of an improvement programme to the A40.

The planning application for the park and ride was made in April 2021 and central government funding for the car park, access road and proposed roundabout was approved that December.

Oxfordshire County Council also secured funding for other elements of the A40 improvements programme, including an extension of the dual carriageway from Witney to the car park and a four-mile bus lane in both directions linking it to Duke’s Cut bridge at Wolvercote roundabout.

This part of the project had to be redesigned because rising costs, partly linked to inflation, meant it could not be completed within the budget.

The changes, which were submitted in September last year, now need to be approved by Homes England and the Department for Transport, which are paying for the work, before it can start.

Oxfordshire County Council said it was unable to say when work would begin until the conclusion of these discussions, but its website said it was expected the park and ride site would be running by 2027.