GOVERNMENT funding of £11m has been handed out to three major road projects around Oxfordshire.

The money will pay for putting traffic lights at the Cutteslowe roundabout in North Oxford, improvements to a road in Bicester to cope with extra train traffic, and a new link road in Wantage.

It is hoped all three projects will be completed by early 2017.

County councillor David Nimmo Smith, the cabinet member for transport, said: “The money which comes from the Department for Transport is a significant proportion of the amount we need.

“We are delighted to be given this funding and we are in a position to be able to get them done.”

The £4.8m Cutteslowe scheme will see traffic lights put at the junction to reduce traffic congestion in the area, but Mr Nimmo Smith said the council had not yet decided whether to keep the roundabout or not.

Bicester’s London Road will be improved in expectation of an increase in train services following the completion of the East West rail project – which could consist of a bridge or a new road.

The council has been given up to £6.8m for this but the total cost of the project is not yet known.

In Wantage the £800,000 allocation will allow a £15m relief road between the A361 and the A417 to be completed.

Other funds come from the council’s own budget and from developer contributions.

County councillor for Summertown and Wolvercote Jean Fooks welcomed the news that work on the Cutteslowe roundabout would be happening.

She said: “It is good that there is a plan to do something, whatever the traffic engineers with their experience think will reduce queues on Banbury Road.”