East-West Rail: Bedfordshire residents give their views on £5bn scheme

A consultation on the next stage of the East-West Rail project is set to end

The university cities of Oxford and Cambridge are due to be connected by rail once again, thanks to a new £5bn line. The East-West Rail project will see a brand new section of track built from Bedford to Cambridge, but it is dividing opinion. What do people in Bedfordshire think?

The new rail link will "connect communities between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge", according to the East West Rail Company (EWR Co), set up by the Department for Transport in 2018 to help deliver the project.

"It will also help spread prosperity across the UK by supporting opportunities for economic growth in towns and cities outside London," it says.

In January 2020, it was announced that the preferred route - route E - for the Bedford to Cambridge section of the new line would involve the construction of a new track from Bedford town centre, through villages by Ravensden, on to an area around Tempsford and St Neots on the Cambridgeshire-Bedfordshire border, on to Cambourne, then finally to Cambridge.

A public consultation into the scheme closes later. The exact route has yet to be finalised, with a decision expected by next year. Development consent is anticipated by 2024.

Work could begin in 2025 and be completed by 2030.

A diagram of the proposed "Route E" between Bedford and Cambridge, chosen after an earlier consultation

'This route will carve up the countryside'

Some residents in the Brickhill area of Bedford are concerned the route will be too close to Woodlands Park

Mike Barlow, spokesman for Bedford For A Re-Consultation (BFARe), is against the plans. His group believes the current consultation is based on a "flawed consultation" in 2019.

"It selected a route that isn't consistent with the government's environmental ambitions," he says.

"It contained misleading information and the costs changed without communication to the public."

But he says he and the group are not against East-West Rail, and support its ambitions to get passengers and freight traffic off the roads.

"If we are going to build a railway it should be built to provide the quickest route between Oxford and Cambridge... done in the most environmentally friendly fashion," he says,

"It should follow the shortest, flattest, straightest route, using the least amount of material and energies to run.

"This route from Bedford to the A1 will carve up the countryside, which is a ridiculous notion, and Bedford town centre will be greatly affected.

"The cost implication doesn't include the devastation to the town centre, including the demolition and complex engineering."

'I feel numb'

Jessica (front) is one of several residents in the Poets area whose homes are at threat of demolition

EWR Co says it could acquire or demolish 53 properties in the Bromham Road district of Bedford, known as the Poets area.

In addition, a further 16 properties could be demolished between Bedford and Cambridge.

Jessica, 28, lives in the Poets area, where she grew up, and where she has a home with her six-month old baby boy and husband.

Her home is one of those earmarked for demolition, and she is a member of the Protect Poets group.

"I'm against homes being taken away," she says.

"Had people known that route E would potentially be tearing this community apart I don't think they would have voted for it.

"The first we heard of any rumblings of houses going was on 30 March when a letter came through the door. Before then we hadn't received any correspondence about it.

"I just felt devastated."

She says she had hoping to move to another house in the area, close to her workplace and also to her mother, father and and grandmother.

"My security blanket is here," she says.

"No-one will want to buy our homes now. I am just left feeling numb, I feel like we're fighting a losing battle.

"We have been left in the dark and it just seems unfair."

The company says no homes are currently subject to a compulsory purchase order, but if any need to be acquired, it will compensate owners fairly.

"We are consulting on our proposals for a Need to Sell Scheme that, if introduced, would aim to support people whose ability to sell their property was affected by the project following the announcement of a preferred route alignment", it adds.

'New opportunities'

Trains currently run right by homes in the Poets area of Bedford, where four tracks could become six

John Kell, from Bedford Rail, who writes a blog about railways around Bedford, says: "East-West Rail is hugely important for the future of the arc from Oxford to Cambridge, which is an economic powerhouse for the country but struggles with poor transport links and a lack of housing.

"Leaving Bedford off the route, by having it by-pass the town to the south, would have been a terrible blow.

"The route through Bedford links us in firmly to the new opportunities in jobs and housing across the region, and having an interchange at Bedford station opens the way to reverse the withdrawal of InterCity train services from Bedford that will happen later this month.

"The onus is now on East-West Rail to make the project work without demolishing homes, either by using the existing four tracks or finding engineering solutions to fit their preferred six tracks on the existing railway land."

'Route E will benefit Bedford'

Bedford has two railway stations close to the town centre

Dave Hodgson, the Liberal Democrat elected mayor of Bedford Borough, says the project is a "vital piece of new infrastructure for our area that the council has been lobbying for since 1995, with cross-party support".

"Route E will deliver more economic benefits to Bedford Borough than a southerly route. Route E would also support the regeneration of the centre of Bedford, as well as enabling Bedford Midland to become a railway hub of national importance."

'Feedback is so important'

Due to the pandemic, virtual consultation rooms were set up by EWRC

Simon Blanchflower, chief executive of EWR Co, says: "We are delighted that so many people have already taken the opportunity to give their views on our developing plans for the railway.

"Getting this feedback is so important: your views will help us make sure we can make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide new, reliable, sustainable transport for communities from Oxford to Cambridge."

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