CHANCELLOR George Osborne pledged to look into congestion on the A34 last night after a meeting with Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood.

Miss Blackwood  had requested the meeting in September, after calling for more investment for improvements on the busy route.

Speaking afterwards, Miss Blackwood told the Oxford Mail: “I made the case to the Chancellor in no uncertain terms that the A34 simply cannot sustain the level of traffic we are seeing at present.

“We need a long-term plan for improvement along the whole of the A34.

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“My constituents are struggling daily to get to work, and businesses are reluctant to start up and expand in Oxford because of the congestion.

“Individual improvements along the route are simply not enough, we need urgent investment along the A34 as a whole.”

The A34 has been branded one of the worst roads in the country, with up to 79,000 vehicles using the key Oxfordshire link road every day.

A spokeswoman for Miss Blackwood said Mr Osborne had “assured Nicola that he would look into the specific points she has raised and consider possible solutions carefully, before coming back to her shortly”.

Miss Blackwood would continue to lobby the Department for Transport for the improvements, she added.


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