'Alternatives to the Ox-Cam Arc'
Nov
17
10:00 am10:00

'Alternatives to the Ox-Cam Arc'

'Alternatives to the Ox-Cam Arc' is an expert meeting that will provide different views on housing, transport, agriculture, the environment and democracy across the Arc.

Alternatives to the Ox-Cam Arc, Wednesday, 17th November, 1000hrs to 1600hrs, MK Conferencing MK6 2TG

Distinguished guest speakers including MPs and sector experts, and Q & A sessions will challenge the developer-led agenda of Whitehall's Ox-Cam Arc proposals, following our response to the recent Government Arc Spatial Framework consultation which involved an alternative survey revealing that 93% of people would vote 'No' to the Ox-Cam Arc and only 4% would vote 'Yes' (the remainder are undecided).

'Alternatives to the Ox-Cam Arc' is being organised by Stop the Arc (STARC), Buckinghamshire Environment Action Group (BEAG), Bedford For a Re Consultation (BFARe) and Cambridge Approaches (CA), with the support of our participating speakers and organisations.

The ticket price of £20 includes tea/coffee and a sandwich lunch.

Ticket booking is now open to all and tickets are going quickly (seating is limited to only 50). Please book early to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the original venue for our meeting (DoubleTree Hotel, MK Stadium) has now become unavailable to us for our meeting, so we have had to change venue to the MK Conferencing Centre, Strudwick Drive, Milton Keynes, MK6 2TG, about 5kms away from the stadium. For venue details please go to: http://mkconferencing.co.uk/

Below is the timetable of the day’s events, speakers and topics

Time Speaker Affiliation Website/Contact Talk
0930 - 1000 Arrivals + tea/coffee
Morning Session: Chair David Rogers
1000-1005 Official welcome
SESSION: ARC & HOUSING
1005-1035 Peter Bill Editor and Author @peterproperty "Broken Homes: Britain's housing crisis"
1035 - 1105 Riki Therivel Oxford POETS https://www.poetsplanningoxon.uk/ "The Ox-Cam Arc. How it should have been planned"
1105-1135 Jon Reeds Smart Growth UK https://smartgrowthuk.org/ "The Oxford-Cambridge Arc. Why here?"
1135 - 1150 Tea/Coffee
1150-1200 Video shorts (3 MPs)
SESSION: TRANSPORT & OUR ALTERNATIVE SURVEY
1200-1230 Mike Barlow Chair of BFARe https://bfare.org.uk/ "The past, present and ?future? Of East West Rail"
1230-1240 Roger Carey Chair of BEAG http://www.beag.org.uk "Our Alternative Arc Spatial Framework Survey"
1240-1255 Greg Smith video MP Buckingham "The Ox-Cam Arc"
1255-1315 Lunch
Afternoon   Session: Chair Charles Pither
SESSION: THE ENVIRONMENT
1315-1340 Jonathan Gorham NFU https://www.nfuonline.com/about-us/our-offices/east-anglia/east-anglia-news/have-your-say-nfu-responds-to-consultation-on-dra/ "Agriculture and the Ox-Cam Arc"
1340-1405 Charles Secrett Zero Hour https://www.ceebill.uk/about "Tackling the Climate-Nature crisis"
1405-1430 Alan James CPRE http://www.cprecambs.org.uk/ "CPRE, the eNGOs and the Ox-Cam Arc"
1430-1450 Panel Q&A All speakers
1450-1500 Tea/Coffee
1500-1530 Chris Church Oxford FoE https://www.oxfoe.co.uk/ "COP26 and what it should mean for the Ox-Cam Arc"
1530-1555 David Rogers STARC https://stopthearc.org "Biodiversity Net Gain: of what, for whom?"
1555-1600 Wrap up
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BBC TV East visits St Neots as the Ox-Cam Arc consultation ends
Oct
12
6:30 pm18:30

BBC TV East visits St Neots as the Ox-Cam Arc consultation ends

This is an article by BBC TV East reporter Ben Schofield who interviewed local residents, business-people, the Mayor of St Neots, Stephen Ferguson, and Green Party activist, Lara Davenport-Ray about the Ox-Cam Arc Consultation which was closing that day, Tuesday 12th October. The residents hadn't heard of it, the Mayor found the consultation totally lacking in detail (the background documentation 'impenetrable'), the business spokesperson worried that developments would become just huge housing estates and Lara Davenport Ray stated that St Neots would be overwhelmed by Ox-Cam Arc plans. (3:40 mins)

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Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA).  "The Ox-Cam Arc: what are they not telling us?"
Oct
7
7:00 pm19:00

Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations (FeCRA). "The Ox-Cam Arc: what are they not telling us?"

This is a talk given to the Federation of Cambridge Residents' Associations special meeting on 'Supersize Cambridge' on 7th October 2021. Stop the Arc's David Rogers asks 'The Ox-Cam Arc: what are they not telling us?' (21:34 mins)

A full list of all the recorded talks at this meeting is available on the FeCRA website here.

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STARC Parliament Day 7th September 2021
Sept
7
2:00 pm14:00

STARC Parliament Day 7th September 2021

A short video of Stop the Arc's 'Parliamentary Pavement Protest' on 07/09/21. Covid and other restrictions kept us from meeting MPs within Parliament so we held our event on the pavement outside Portcullis House with the London traffic in the background! Speakers include Richard Fuller (Cons. NE Beds), Greg Smith (Cons. Buckingham), Layla Moran (Lib. Dem, Oxford West & Abingdon) and Anneliese Dodds (Lab. Oxford East). Thanks to all the MPs who juggled their timetables to join us on the Embankment, and to Cllr Tim Bearder who made the video.

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BBC TV South (Oxford). Stop the Arc criticises bland public consultation on Ox-Cam Arc plans
Jul
28
6:30 pm18:30

BBC TV South (Oxford). Stop the Arc criticises bland public consultation on Ox-Cam Arc plans

This is a BBC TV News article following the launch of the public consultation on the Ox-Cam Arc Spatial Framework. Campaigners are concerned that the consultation questions are so bland and lacking in any detail that the Government might take positive responses as an endorsement for its high growth ambitions for the five counties of the Ox-Cam Arc. How can people respond to this consultation sensibly when absolutely no details of the scale of development have been given to them?

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BBC TV South (Oxford). the Ox-Cam Arc Westminster Hall Debate
Jul
14
6:30 pm18:30

BBC TV South (Oxford). the Ox-Cam Arc Westminster Hall Debate

A Westminster Hall debate on 14th July saw housing Minister Chris Pincher responding to a number of local MPs across the Ox-Cam Arc expressing their concerns at the high growth targets for their communities as a result of Arc plans. David Rogers for the Stop the Arc Group welcomes the fact that MPs are finally taking notice of the threat of over-development in many essentially rural constituencies. The recent Amersham & Chesham by-election result is a wake-up call to all those who imagine local communities are happy with Whitehall plans for growth.

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Jun
22
7:30 pm19:30

Stonesfield Climate Emergency Group. "The Ox-Cam Arc: Whitehall's deadly secret and how it will affect you."

This talk "The Ox-Cam Arc: Whitehall's deadly secret and how it will affect you" was given to a joint meeting of the Stonesfield Climate Emergency Group and Sustainable Stonesfield on 22nd June 2021. It covers many aspects of Ox-Cam Arc development: the houses, the roads, the economy, 'doubling nature' and local democracy, or the lack of it across all five arc counties. The talk was chaired by Caroline Friend of the Climate Emergency Group and was followed by a Q&A session. (81 mins including the Q&A session).

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Greater Marston Labour Group: "Smoke, mirrors and Whitehall's Oxford-Cambridge Arc plans."
Jun
21
7:30 pm19:30

Greater Marston Labour Group: "Smoke, mirrors and Whitehall's Oxford-Cambridge Arc plans."

This talk, given to the Greater Marston Labour group on 21st June 2021, covers five key features of Ox-Cam Arc plans; houses, roads, the economy, the environment and democracy. Arc ambitions involve over-development of the five Arc countries; road corridors ‘only to meet existing needs’ (despite the fact that the plans involve hundreds of thousands of new houses); economic arguments that do not stand up to close scrutiny; use of biodiversity net gain approaches that fail twice as often as they succeed; and a total lack of consultation with the 3.7 million people who currently live in the Arc. In its present form,. the Ox-Cam Arc should be scrapped.

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May
5
6:30 pm18:30

Oxford Extinction Rebellion. "Lies, damned lies and the Ox-Cam Arc."

This talk will give a brief history of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc development and then take four key features of the plans to answer important questions that those plans raise:

Houses: can we increase housing growth without limits?

Jobs: can we create a ‘Silicon Valley’ effect in the Ox-Cam Arc?

Environment: can we save Nature even as we sell it?

Communities: are local voices being heard?

The answer to all four questions is ‘No’. The talk will explain why. (53:10 mins)

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Friends of the River Cam.  "The Ox-Cam Arc: an environmental catastrophe."
Apr
28
7:00 pm19:00

Friends of the River Cam. "The Ox-Cam Arc: an environmental catastrophe."

The controversial Oxford-Cambridge Expressway was cancelled in March but the Government retains its original ambition to increase economic output of the Oxford to Cambridge region by an amount that requires more than one million workers and an aspirational one million houses, with Cambridgeshire’s share (271,000) increasing by more than 80% the entire housing stock of the county by 2050.  Key documents released in February of this year outline a framework spatial plan for the Ox-Cam Arc and a regional transport strategy to improve both road and rail connections across the region.  Plans imagine ‘doubling nature’ in places by 2050, but this will only come at the cost of losing other areas to development.  Do we really have to sell nature to save it?  Biodiversity Net Gain and Natural Capital Accounting methods are poor and inaccurate defences; they are like bows and arrows against the tanks of the development industry. (44:14 mins) 

The talk itself is available here (click on the image). A longer version with the Q&A session following the talk, is now available in the News section of our website here

For more information about the Oxford-Cambridge Arc plans please visit the Stop the Arc website here.

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Mar
5
7:30 pm19:30

Wavendon & Surrounding Area Meeting

Wavendon gate school.PNG

NEG and NEG Woburn Sands will be presenting up-to-date information about the direct threat to homes in Wavendon/Woburn Sands and the potential impact of a road in Wavendon Gate and surrounding communities from the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway. We will include the freight and housing impacts, but particularly focus on the impact of the road potentially planned to come very close to or actually through our communities. We will also include information on the East West Rail plans, and the MK Futures 2050 Consultation. Come and find out how to have your say and why it matters.

Join us to hear the latest and see what you can do to help! Can’t make that date? Look out for further event on our events list… more dates coming!

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Feb
26
1:30 pm13:30

NEG Westminster Event

No Expressway Group takes the campaign to Westminster

NEG's film of our day in Westminster, taking our petitions to 10 Downing Street and our event in Parliament.

Our event was cross-party and cross-Arc, co-hosted by Layla Moran (Lib Dem MP for Oxford West & Abingdon), Greg Smith (Conservative MP for Buckingham) and Daniel Zeichner (Labour MP for Cambridge).

We delivered petitions of almost 15,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street and held an event in Parliament for MPs and Peers.

This was a fantastic day which can leave the Prime Minister and all MPs in no doubt whatsoever that the Ox-Cam Expressway is not needed and not wanted.

Thank you to everyone involved and to everyone who signed the petitions!

You can see our post event press release here.

You can see our broadcast media coverage here.

It’s not too late to sign our petition… it’s not over until it’s over! You can sign here.

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Feb
18
7:30 pm19:30

Woburn Sands & Surrounding Villages Meeting

Mary Adams Hall 2.PNG

NEG Woburn Sands will be presenting up-to-date information about the direct threat to homes in Woburn Sands and surrounding communities from the Oxford-Cambridge Expressway. We will include the freight and housing impacts, but particularly focus on the “community severance” planned for our communities.

We will also include information on the East West Rail plans, which could also have a huge impact, and the MK Futures 2050 consultation. Come and find out how to have your say and make it count.

Join us to hear the latest and see what you can do to help! Can’t make that date? Look out for further event on our events list… more dates coming!

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Jan
27
7:30 pm19:30

Dorton Village Meeting

Ashfold school.PNG

NEG will be presenting at Dorton Village meeting, kindly hosted by Ashfold School.

Please join us to hear the latest news about the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and what this could mean for this area and how you can help.

We will be meeting in the Saloon. Please park in front of the school and use the front door.

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