Liz Truss backs the next phase of East-West Rail project

The prime minister has given her backing to a £5bn rail project linking Oxford and Cambridge.

The next phase of the East-West Rail link was put in doubt after the Department of Transport said it was a decision for "the next prime minister".

Julia Virdee, from Bedford's Protect Poets group, which opposes the scheme, said: "Where will the funding come from given the current economic situation?"

Liz Truss said her government would be "laying out the detail in due course".

"One of the issues we've got, and one of the reasons for our sluggish economic growth as a country, is we're not getting these things built fast enough," Ms Truss said, in an interview with BBC Look East's Janine Machin.

"What I will be doing is making sure we're accelerating important projects."

About 50 residents in the Poets area of Bedford have been told their homes could be demolished or acquired as part of the scheme.

Ms Virdee said: "The continued lack of a business case, together with a proven fall in passenger numbers on all public transport brings into question the real need for this section of the scheme."

Mike Barlow, from campaign group Bedford for a Reconsultation (BFARe), said: "If it is to go ahead as the PM says - then for Bedford it should be on the more logical, shorter, straighter, flatter route with fewer demolitions and lower carbon to build and less environmental impact, rather than the current route selection."

Further down the line, in Cambridgeshire villages, residents have begun the Cambridge Approaches and the Stop The Arc Group, which supports a northern approach into Cambridge.

Co-founder Dr William Harrold said: "Proponents of East-West Rail need to demonstrate how their solution will actually attract significant new investment.

"Even if there were a case, the proposed route is also wrong, it does not fit local housing, transport and economic plans, nor is it optimised for freight."

Work began on the second phase of the project, from Bicester to Bletchley, in 2020 and is on time and on budget, according to the East-West Rail Alliance.

The last two sections from Bletchley to Bedford and from Bedford to Cambridge are "still in planning".

The first section to upgrade the railway between Oxford and Bicester was completed in 2016.

During his campaign to be the next prime minister, the former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would axe latter stages of the project.

A government report then suggested the East-West Rail scheme "appears to be unachievable" in parts.

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