NEWS: Ox-Cam Expressway "paused" not cancelled - Budget & RIS2 March 11, 2020

Ox-Cam Expressway “paused”, missed opportunity to Cancel; Housing growth still actively being planned.

Budget & RIS2.PNG

It is a missed opportunity and very disappointing that the budget was not used to cancel the Expressway. The budget was however, focused on messages about “getting things done”, not cancelling things. But the RIS2 document would have been the ideal place to announce the complete cancellation of this destructive scheme. Communities need clarity urgently!

Pause does not equal Cancel. We will continue campaigning until this is fully cancelled!

Road Investment Strategy 2 (RIS2) announced that the Ox-Cam Expressway is “paused”, saying:

  • The Government “has investigated the potential for a new high-quality link road between the M1 and M40 which could support this growth and examined the costs and benefits of a range of options, taking account of the views of local authorities and residents in the Arc.”

  • “We are now pausing further development of the scheme while we undertake further work on other potential road projects that could support the Government’s ambition for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc”

  • “including exploring opportunities to alleviate congestion around the Arc’s major economic centres such as Milton Keynes”

  • It also says the Dept for Transport will “work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and local partners on the proposed Spatial Framework to identify the role transport can play alongside the proposed economic and housing growth ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.”

SINCE WHEN was the Expressway only to go from the M40 to the M1? All original maps and the Corridor Assessment Report etc etc was to connect from the A34 South of Oxford… with maps showing the preferred corridor going from the M4/A34 junction near Newbury all the way to Cambridge. The route from the M1 to Cambridge is already in place and key junctions being improved. But why / how has the M4 to M40 part of this disappeared? Has that bit been completely scrapped?

ALSO of note are the expected commitments to

  • improve junctions between Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet

  • complete A34 Newbury to Oxford safety enhancements

The Budget made no mention of the Ox-Cam Expressway but does focus on housing development across the Ox-Cam Arc:

  • saying the government has “designated the corridor of land connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge (the OxCam Arc) as a key economic priority”

  • announcing “plans to develop, with local partners, a long-term Spatial Framework to support strategic planning in the OxCam Arc.” This is focused on supporting ”the area’s future economic success and the delivery of the new homes required by this growth up to 2050 and beyond”

  • saying the government will “examine and develop the case for up to four new Development Corporations in the OxCam Arc at Bedford, St Neots/Sandy, Cambourne and Cambridge, which includes plans to explore the case for a New Town at Cambridge, to accelerate new housing and infrastructure development.”

Document Excerpts & Links:

Road Investment Strategy 2 - P117, Existing Strategic Studies, Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

Oxford to Cambridge Expressway – the Oxford-Cambridge Arc is already home to some of the most productive towns and cities in the country. The Government’s ambition is for further growth within the Arc that will help make it a world class economic hub, and delivering the right infrastructure is vital to support this. The Government has investigated the potential for a new high-quality link road between the M1 and M40 which could support this growth and examined the costs and benefits of a range of options, taking account of the views of local authorities and residents in the Arc. We are now pausing further development of the scheme while we undertake further work on other potential road projects that could support the Government’s ambition for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, and benefit people who live and work there, including exploring opportunities to alleviate congestion around the Arc’s major economic centres such as Milton Keynes. We will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and local partners on the proposed Spatial Framework to identify the role transport can play alongside the proposed economic and housing growth ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

You can see the full Road Investment Strategy 2 here.

The BUDGET - p. 83, The OxCam Arc

2.128 The government has designated the corridor of land connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge (the OxCam Arc) as a key economic priority. Earlier this year, the government announced the East West Rail Company’s preferred route for the new line between Bedford and Cambridge. The government will also, subject to planning consents, build a new rail station at Cambridge South, improving connectivity to the world-leading research facilities of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – the largest cluster of medical and life sciences research in Europe.

2.129 The Budget announces plans to develop, with local partners, a long-term Spatial Framework to support strategic planning in the OxCam Arc. This will support the area’s future economic success and the delivery of the new homes required by this growth up to 2050 and beyond. The government is also going to examine and develop the case for up to four new Development Corporations in the OxCam Arc at Bedford, St Neots/Sandy, Cambourne and Cambridge, which includes plans to explore the case for a New Town at Cambridge, to accelerate new housing and infrastructure development.

You can see the full Budget report, known as the “Red Book” here.

Guest Usernews, parliament, march 2020