East West Railway Company (EWR Co) has invited community representatives from every parish, ward and electoral division along the potential route of East West Rail to join regular discussions about the much-needed new transport connection.
The groups, which will continue throughout the planning, building and running of the new railway, are being set up at this early stage so the project can improve and benefit from collaboration with communities, who will see a greener, quicker and more affordable way to travel across the region.
Almost 350 Ward and County Councillors and over 200 Town and Parish Councils between Oxford and Cambridge have been invited to represent their local communities at these groups. There will be 17 location-specific discussion groups in total along the East West Rail route with meetings set to take place every three months.
Simon Blanchflower CBE, Chief Executive at East West Railway Company said:
“The right transport will open up so many opportunities for people – maybe they’re thinking about applying for a new job, moving to a new home, or just seeing more of what this beautiful region has to offer. I’m delighted to see these groups being set up: we’re indebted to community representatives who take the time to share their thoughts and experience with us, so we have as much information as possible to create what they and their neighbours need.
“These groups offer an opportunity for local representatives to have honest discussions with our team at regular intervals, during and outside of formal consultations. Most importantly, it will give our team the chance to really listen to the things that are important to local communities. We know issues such as rights of way, embankments and their impact on the landscape, and how we might minimise any noise that could come from the new railway are really critical and we’ll keep listening and working with local representatives to make sure any disruption to their communities is justified and kept to a minimum.”
The first meeting will be held on Wednesday 9 February for representatives of Huntingdonshire and parts of South Cambridgeshire. Initial meetings will be held virtually and will shape the terms of reference for the groups and consider key local topics for future discussions. It is likely that the lifting of Covid restrictions will allow face-to-face meetings to take place at locations along the EWR route in the future if people feel comfortable doing so.
Communities can check who is representing them locally by visiting our website. Alternatively, people can write to the EWR Co team at Contact@eastwestrail.co.uk for more information.
Once the first meetings have taken place, agendas, minutes and presentation materials will be available in a new space on the East West Rail Community Hub.
EWR Co will publish plans for wider community engagement in the near future.
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Notes to editors
An update on the 2021 non-statutory consultation
People living in towns and villages across the potential EWR Route, and their community representatives were extremely generous in their time and expertise during the 2021 Consultation, giving EWR a significant – and very welcome – challenge to see how and where we could change and improve East West Rail.
We received over 9,000 responses and, within these, over 160,000 individual matters were raised. All of these responses are being reviewed and considered by our expert team. We have a duty to take all of this feedback into real consideration – which takes time – and will publish a report summarising the consultation feedback as well as information on how the feedback has been used to inform plans for the railway once we’ve completed that work. We are pushing ourselves to develop the best possible design options based on this feedback alongside environmental, technical and financial studies.
It is not just a case of the total volume of feedback either. Among the thousands of comments and ideas we received in the 2021 consultation, people asked us to re-think how embankments might impact the landscape, to minimise noise coming from a new railway, and gave us helpful detail about which rights of way really make a difference to people living in small communities. These are just a few examples of the detailed issues that our team are reviewing, assessing and evaluating in depth. This will enable EWR Co to provide individual responses to each matter as well as more general responses to any recurring themes.
Initially we had aimed to finish this work early in 2022, but we now believe it is more likely to be ready to publish in the summer of 2022. Communities will have further opportunities to comment on EWR proposals at a subsequent statutory consultation, following which we expect to submit a formal application for a Development Consent Order to the Secretary of State for permission to construct and operate EWR.
About the East West Rail project
East West Rail intends to create a new direct connection between Oxford and Cambridge. Serving communities across the area, it intends to bring faster journey times and lower transport costs as well as ease pressure on local roads.
East West Rail is planned to be delivered in three Connection Stages:
- Connection Stage One: Oxford to Bletchley and Milton Keynes
- Connection Stage Two: Oxford to Bedford
- Connection Stage Three: Oxford to Cambridge
Network Rail was responsible for developing the first part of the East West Rail, connecting Oxford with Bicester, and is a partner in a construction alliance to deliver Connection Stage 1 of the project, where East West Railway Company (EWR Co) and Network Rail are acting as the Department for Transport’s joint sponsors.
EWR Co is now developing the route to enable services to run to Cambridge via Bedford and plans to seek statutory powers under the Planning Act 2008, following a period of extensive consultation.
About East West Railway Company
East West Railway Company (EWR Co) was set up by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2018 to develop East West Rail, a railway with customers and communities at its core.
We have a mission to innovate and challenge the status-quo in the rail and construction industries, leading to a more efficient and cost-effective project delivery, and a great experience for passengers and the communities we serve. Our vision is delivery of a safe and secure railway that is better for the customer; cheaper for the taxpayer; delivered quicker than before and is greener for the environment.
Our distinctive outlook and commitment to doing the right thing for our customers and local communities runs through everything we do and every decision we make.
