“Trying to transfer goods by rail is brilliant, but then you put it right in the middle of farmland. No, it is not okay to convert farmland into warehouses,” he said.
“This is a climate emergency, one of the things we need to look at is food security, and we do not concrete over farmland unless there is a very good reason.
“It is about as far away from any settlement as you could possibly get, and it would be a 24-hour operation. You save trucks driving up and down the M40. And then you promptly put thousands of car journeys on the roads every day.
“To parody itself even further, it is near a closed (railway) station in Ardley where there are no plans to reopen. That is actually taking the mick.”
He concluded: “I think this consultation is rubbish. I think it is a brilliant idea in exactly the wrong place.”
Councillor Duncan Enright (Lab, Witney North & East), the county’s cabinet member for travel & development strategy, said: “The LTCP commits us very firmly to supporting rail freight.
“We see the long-distance transport of goods, particularly bulk goods, by rail as a very sustainable option and something that would definitely be advantageous.
“However, we have concerns about specific things. Although this impacts primarily on the M40, it certainly has implications for the network.
“By making this balanced response, we acknowledge that we support the idea of rail freight but point out all of the key reasons why we might have concerns for the local network, not only for the onward transport of freight but the arrival and leaving of workers on various shifts.
“I would like to thank the officers for doing such a good job of gathering together all the things that might impact our county and for asking all the right questions, including whether this is the right spot.”
The council’s response will help to inform decisions made at the national government level under a Development Consent Order (DCO).