PRESS RELEASE: Anti-Expressway Sentiment Continues to Grow Oct 29, 2019
Anti-Expressway sentiment continues to grow
Anti-Expressway sentiment continues to grow along the Arc, demonstrated with yet another standing room only meeting. Over 140 people packed into the Wavendon Community Centre last night to find out about the proposed Oxford to Cambridge Expressway, from Prof David Rogers and Olivia Field of the No Expressway Group (NEG).
Cllr David Hopkins invited NEG to speak at a meeting arranged in his Danesborough Ward as, he felt it critical that his community have as much information about the Expressway and the plans for housing along the Arc as possible.
The audience were clearly frustrated that, to date there has been no communication from Highways England or previously from the Council. Cllr David Hopkins explained that Milton Keynes Council had signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Highways England and hence officers for the Council could not share any information with Councillors about progress and that at present NEG is the best source of information.
The question is …..when are MK Council proposing to undertake the consultation it promised and what information it’s going to provide the community with so that they can provide an informed response? The community has cause to be alarmed as illustrated by the Council notes from the 3rd September
Dated 3rd Sept 2019
"Question from Councillor D Hopkins to Councillor Marland (Leader of the Council) Councillor D Hopkins, referring to the East West Expressway, asked Councillor Marland if he would agree to write to the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, calling on him to scrap plans for an 'Expressway' between Oxford and Cambridge (and potentially through parts of Milton Keynes) on the grounds that the new road would fly in the face of this Council’s declaration of a climate change emergency and the carbon reduction targets the Council had set and instead support in its place plans for a fully electrified central spine (Southampton to Sheffield) and the East-West rail link between the two university cities (passing through Milton Keynes), which would improve connections between the south coast and north west as well as securing fast frequent links to the ports in East Anglia via connections with central, southern and western England.
Councillor Marland indicated that a Delegated Decision had been taken by Councillor Gowans (the Cabinet member for Planning and Transport) in July 2019 which set out the Council’s position which was that the Council would not oppose the scheme outright, but a public consultation on the conditional support for the East West Expressway would be carried out to inform the Council’s response to the Department of Transport about the M1 to Oxford Section of the proposed East West Expressway. Councillor Marland also indicated that the Council’s position would depend on Highways England clarifying that the final plans for the scheme would include environmentally sustainable mitigation solutions and work on the road would not commence until an electrified rail link was in place. Councillor Marland agreed to write to the Minister of Transport to that effect.
As a supplementary question, Councillor D Hopkins, with reference to the East West Expressway, asked Councillor Marland if he would be willing to meet with the Minister for Transport, local Members of Parliament and himself, if he could arrange it, to put forward local issues. Councillor Marland agreed he would."
ENDS
We urgently need your help.
Your donations are needed now, to help us run the campaign and pay for political consultants and other professional experts to bring this campaign to the attention of Westminster as well as local politicians.
No Expressway Group believes there is no need for an Oxford-Cambridge Expressway, nor the over-inflated housing targets associated with it, and we will actively campaign against it and support other organisations with the same objectives.
Our environment is a national asset which is critical for everyone’s health and well-being. We must not let it be destroyed.
Your donations help us to spread information about the Expressway, run and build support for the campaign:
£10 could pay for one roadside Correx poster
£15 could pay for one roadside poster on a wooden stake
£20 could pay for one A1 printed colour poster for our pagoda display
£35 could pay for 250 A5 printed leaflets for the campaign
£70 could pay for one pole and two panels for our travelling pagoda display
£150 could pay for one feather flag for our travelling pagoda
£180 could pay to run this website for one year
£300 could pay for a 3 minutes of an Expressway Story
£500 could pay for a 5 minutes of an Expressway Story
A greater or other amount could contribute to the cost of professional support for our campaign in general and in preparation for Planning Inspectorate hearings
Please note:
The No Expressway Group has a group bank account to which the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are signatories. The group will publish accounts on noexpressway.org each year which will be audited by an accountant from outside the NEG group.
If any funds are left at the end of the campaign, these will be donated equally between RSPB and BBOWT.