East-West Rail: Campaigners need decision from new government

Campaigners fighting a £5bn rail project have said they just "want somebody to make a decision".

Bedford's Protect Poets group oppose the East-West Rail link being built between Oxford and Cambridge.

When doubt was cast on its future, the Department of Transport (DfT) said it would be decided by the new prime minister, now confirmed as Liz Truss.

East-West Rail said it would "work closely with the new government to make important decisions".

The first section of the rail link - which upgraded the railway between Oxford and Bicester - was completed in 2016.

The second 21-mile (33km) £760m Bicester to Bletchley stretch - which began in 2020 - is on time and on budget, according to the East-West Rail Company Alliance.

The last two sections from Bletchley to Bedford and from Bedford to Cambridge are "still in planning, and are dependent on final government funding and approval" the company said.

Protect Poets is against this next stage which will cut through homes and businesses in the Bedford Poets' area.

In July, the DfT said no major policy decisions would be made during the Conservative Party leadership campaign, but in his own campaign to be the next prime minister, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would axe latter stages of the project if chosen.

In the same month, a government report said parts of it "appear to be unachievable".

"The project may need re-scoping and/or its overall viability reassessed," the Infrastructure and Projects Authority report said.

Julia Virdee, from Protect Poets said it was hard for homeowners who want to stay in the area to know what to do.

"The home we're in is probably too small for our long term needs," she said.

"So we would have planned to extend it, but you can't commit to doing something like that on a house that might not be standing in three or four years time.

"We'll hear a comment from someone like Grant Shapps saying that he would scrap East-West Rail if he was prime minister and then we have an open meeting with East-West Rail and they are very positive that putting lines of track alongside our homes or through our homes is the best solution and that's exactly what they're going to do.

"I want somebody to make a decision... Ultimately I'd like somebody in government to say we're scrapping this entirely."

She added that the majority of the community were "very, very upset".

"I can understand how a few small houses is quite insignificant in a major infrastructure project like East-West Rail, but equally we're not seen any proof of what they're telling us.

"We've not seen the numbers, nobody can present us with a business case, no one can present us with anything that says 'this is what it's actually going to do for Bedford as a town'."

Will Gallagher, strategy director for the East-West Rail Company, said that by joining up the economic centres, the rail link was a "key ingredient that will help keep the area a success".

"We recognise that people want certainty over the project and we look forward to working closely with the new government to make important decisions about restoring a rail connection between Oxford and Cambridge and driving the UK's economic recovery," he said.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "As with all major policy areas and projects, it will be for the next prime minister and government to make any decisions on EWR, and next steps for the project will be set out in due course."

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