UPDATE: January 2021

We are expecting major announcements early in 2021 on the fate of the paused Ox-Cam Expressway, on plans for the rest of the road network across the Arc, and on a spatial plan for the Arc.

The Government and/or Highways England are expected to make an announcement about the the future of the Ox-Cam Expressway and other roads across the region early this year. England’s Economic Heartland (EEH) will produce a final version of its Regional Transport Strategy, after two public consultations (in 2019 and 2020), in February 2021. Finally the spatial plan for the Arc is being developed by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) among probably a number of others. The spatial plan should finally set out the Government’s ambition for major settlements across the Arc. With a target of 1 million new houses by 2050 it is clear that these cannot all be distributed among the existing towns and settlements. Brand new towns, and even cities, could deliver such huge numbers, but where should such massive developments go? Look at the map of the Arc. Watch the ‘empty spaces’.