East West’s boost
An estimated £1bn of additional funding will be made available to complete next phase of East West Rail’s western section.
GOVERNMENT has confirmed that an estimated £1 billion worth of additional funding will be made available to Network Rail to complete the delivery of Phase 2 of the western section of East West Rail (EWR2) by 2024.
Announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond during the Autumn Budget on November 22, the decision paves the way for the East West Rail Alliance (comprising Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, VolkerRail and NR) to focus on restoring 60 miles of existing rail corridor between Bicester and Bedford.
A Treasury position paper states that passenger services will be introduced across EWR2 between Bedford-Bicester and Milton Keynes-Princes Risborough from 2023, complementing Phase 1 of the route that opened between Bicester and Oxford in December 2016.
Services could then be introduced on EWR’s proposed central section just two years later, although an independent East West Rail company is still being established to accelerate the delivery of this part of the line between Cambridge and Bedford.
The Treasury’s backing for EWR forms part of an overarching highlevel vision to stimulate economic growth in the Oxford-Milton Keynes-Cambridge growth corridor, that was published by Government alongside the Autumn Budget. Regional stakeholders have been asked to respond over the next 12 months, to turn the vision into a strategy containing a programme of targeted infrastructure investments that will help stimulate housing and business growth.
It follows a report from the National Infrastructure Commission,
published just five days before the Budget, calling on the Government to make the corridor a national priority. According to NIC, the area is already one of the most economically successful in the UK, but the annual economic output of the corridor could be £163bn higher in 2050 than in 2014 with the right interventions.
The Government has welcomed the NIC’s finding that up to one million homes will need to be built in the corridor by 2050, making further funding for EWR increasingly likely to support this.
To fulfil this ambition, Government has also agreed to match-fund up to £5 million for the development of plans for a Cambridge South station (which would be served by EWR).
It has commissioned NR to report by summer 2018 on enhancements required to support rail growth in Cambridgeshire up to 2043. It will also co-fund an Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study to explore rail growth in the county, and has committed to developing an Expressway of high-quality roads between Oxford and Cambridge to be built between 2020-25.
NIC Chairman Lord Adonis said: “The arc spanning Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford attracts the brightest and best from some of the most cutting-edge industries. But the area also suffers from a lack of available homes and an infrastructure network that is feeling the strain - pricing local people out of the market, making it difficult for businesses to recruit staff, and threatening the future competitiveness of one of the most successful parts of the country.
“A ground-breaking deal between ministers and local leaders could transform the area, helping to double the rate of housebuilding and deliver the first new towns this country has seen for half a century. With this one of the most economically important parts of the UK, it could add billions of pounds a year to the national economy.
“I urge local leaders to seize this opportunity and work together with Government, both for the benefit of their residents and of the country as a whole - all by delivering a million new homes and jobs by 2050, investing in improved road and rail links and protecting the area’s natural environment.”
The East West Rail Consortium, which comprises approximately 20 local authorities along the proposed route, welcomed the funding announcements having campaigned for East West Rail more than 20 years.
Councillor Mark Shaw, chairman of the Consortium’s western section board (Oxford to Bedford and Aylesbury to Milton Keynes), said: “The announcement is a real cause for celebration for all those who have been campaigning for East West Rail. There have been countless twists and turns in our campaign to get this vital piece of infrastructure built. But without our perseverance, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
“Now, finally, we know with certainty that the section between Oxford and Bedford, and Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, will be delivered by the early 2020s, with the Government pledging to accelerate delivery of the missing link between Bedford and Cambridge.”