Next stretch of East West Rail line approved in Budget

The timeline for the works on the Bletchley to Bedford section will be brought forward

The government has given the green light to the next section of the long-awaited East West Rail (EWR) in the Budget.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said works would be accelerated to allow services from Oxford to Bedford to run by 2030.

He said delivery of works on the Bletchley to Bedford section would be brought forward, supported by £240m from existing budgets.

Earlier the Transport Select Committee met to quiz key players in the project.

Giving evidence to the committee, Tom Wootton, the Conservative mayor of Bedford, said proposals to change the route of the line would not stop the economic benefits for the town.

Earlier this week, he said he was "deeply disappointed' after meeting EWR to discuss eight alternative routes for the line.

Homes in Bedford could be demolished under proposals for the route

Mr Wootton, elected last May, told the committee these proposed routes could save a lot of money.

"One of the protest groups tells me there's about £1bn worth of difference between the shorter, cheaper, flatter routes, and the route that East West Rail has chosen," he said.

"I think we could run our council for about seven or eight years in a row with that money."

In response, Beth West, chief executive of EWR, said that while it would look at Mr Wootton's suggestions, the first part of a statutory consultation starting in June would be based on the preferred route announced last May.

As it stands, 37 homes in Bedford could be demolished along the preferred route through the town, with a further 28 set to lose part of their gardens.

'Big shiny things'

However, she said she was determined to make sure the project offered value for money, and that lowering half the embankments along the 86-mile (138km) route of the line was already saving money.

"I'm driving my team very hard to make sure we are looking at minimising the cost of delivering this railway," she said.

"The industry itself often likes to build very big shiny things, as much as possible, but we're trying to change the approach on that."

Rail Minister Huw Merriman also appeared before the committee, which featured Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart, and fellow Conservative MP for Buckingham Greg Smith.

He praised EWR for delivering the first phase of the project on time and on budget and hoped that the section linking Oxford with Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, and Milton Keynes, would open next year.