THERE are hopes the opening of a new bridge can be used as a platform to bring a new railway station to Grove.

County councillor Zoe Patrick, who officially cut the ribbon on the new A338 road bridge on Monday, said the sooner a station can be opened, the better.

The former Grove station, which was located next to the bridge, closed during the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

Oxfordshire County Council recently made a rail station for Grove a "priority" in its latest county-wide transport plan, and said it hoped to put a business case to Network Rail to bid for funding sometime after 2025.

Speaking after Monday's ceremony, Mrs Patrick said: "It may take as long as the year 2030 to get this plan moving, but with more housing development scheduled in the area and no signs of improvement to our public transport system, the sooner we can see this happen, the better it will be for our community as hopefully, there will be less cars on our already congested roads."

She also thanked everyone involved in getting the new bridge built and added: "We now have a brand new bridge as an entrance to Grove and Wantage on the main highway which will be there for years to come."

Network Rail built the new road bridge higher than the previous one to make room for new overhead electric wires on the track beneath.