The Missing Link

Description

The M40 motorway has been over twenty years in the planning stage. Construction has now begun on some sections but this film looks at the fight to change the route over one section near Oxford known as ‘the missing link’. We see aerial views of countryside in Oxfordshire prior to construction and an aerial shot of the M42 motorway in the West Midlands which will be the northern end of the new road.

A map shows the first proposed route of the missing link which would have taken it across Otmoor north of Oxford. A pressure group was formed in 1982 against that route and they put forward an alternative route which was called R2. View of Bentley Park which was under threat by the original route. Interview with Julia Morrison of the campaign to protect Oxford’s green belt about the alternative route. We then see newspaper headlines from December 1984 when the government abandoned the original Otmoor route. In December 1985 a new route was announced which was called PR (Preferred Route) and was similar to R2. We see a public meeting to examine the PR plan and views of countryside which would now be under threat.

A new pressure group was formed (the Otmoor pressure group would not support them). Interview with William Underwood of the Thomley and Bernwood Association who says that they do not want the road to cross open countryside. In May 1987 we see members of the Thomley and Bernwood Association on a dusk walk into woods that would be lost to the route. They go in search of nightingales. This is followed by time lapse views of farmland. The second pressure group came up with their own route (called D7) which stayed close to the existing Oxford ring road and saved much open countryside.

The next section shows the public inquiry into the PR plan held at Bicester from September 1987. Interview with the inquiry inspector Sir Michael Giddings about the process. We see work underway on the northern section of the road which had started by this point. A speech (from VT) at the inquiry by John Tyme who was hired by the protestors is included. We then see a fundraising dinner and auction at a pub called the Nut Tree. We then see houses on the outskirts of Oxford that would see much increased traffic if the D7 route proposed by the protestors went ahead. Interview with Roger Williams who is chief transport planner for Oxfordshire County Council about feelings in Oxford against the motorway coming close to the city. Time lapse shots of traffic on edge of Oxford. Further shots at the inquiry. Interview with Paul Atkinson of the Department of Transport about the inquiry. Aerial views of M40 construction work. In January 1988 the inquiry ended with victory for the government and the decision to build the PR route. We hear the reactions of the protestors outside the inquiry. Sir Michael Giddings sums up the process. Next we hear House of Commons audio (from March 1989) of the transport minister Peter Bottomley announcing that the PR route is going ahead as proposed. Interview with a disappointed William Underwood. Further views of the land under threat including aerials. In a final twist plans are discussed for a new town of Stone Bassett. Interview with Roger Williams about the extra traffic this new town will bring particularly around a bottle neck at Headington which may require a new road very similar to the D7 route proposed by the Thomley and Bernwood Association which was rejected by the inquiry.

Credits

Photography: Charles Pitt
Timelapse and additional photography: Oxford Scientific Films
Sound: Murray Clarke; Tim Hodge; Robin Ward
Graphic Design: Stuart Kettle
Research: Karen Bishop
Film Editor: Derek Hall
Series Producer: Ashley Bruce
Produced and Directed by Paul Cleary

Notes

Production number 3587/89.