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Oxford-Cambridge Arc: Plans to spend £700m on roads

Getty Images Oxford and CambridgeGetty Images
The development would link the historic university towns of Oxford and Cambridge

More than £700m has been earmarked for spending on roads to provide infrastructure for a mega-development across central England.

Up to one million new homes could be built along the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Cambridge arc by 2050 under government proposals.

Regional body England's Economic Heartland has recommended investment in roads from Swindon to Cambridge.

Opponents say the homes plan will ruin green space the size of Birmingham.

Regional transport body, England's Economic Heartland, has now recommended that Government invest in 11 road schemes from Swindon to Cambridge

The road scheme includes:

  • Widening the Bedford western bypass, the Aylesbury Eastern Link Road and the A10, Ely to Cambridge
  • Junction changes on the A10, Ely to Cambridge, and at Broxbourne and a new junction at the A1139 University Centre, Peterborough
  • Widening the A505, Vauxhall Way, Luton, and the A43 between Northampton and Kettering
  • Building the A509 Isham bypass in Northamptonshire and the A5 Towcester Relief Road.
England's Economic Heartland The plans for £700m of investment in roadsEngland's Economic Heartland

Views are being sought by England's Economic Heartland from people and organisations across the region about the transport scheme.

The plan from the National Infrastructure Commission includes the re-opening of the previously closed Oxford to Cambridge railway.

That element is supported by the government and opponents of the wider scheme.