MP’s backing for ‘science highway’
Plans for new bus route between Newbury and Oxford
PLANS are afoot to create a ‘science highway’ linking Newbury and Oxford.
Both West Berkshire Council and Oxfordshire County and City Councils are doing feasibility studies into a proposed new bus route.
The idea is being spearheaded by Newbury MP Laura Farris, who says the plan will need around £150,000 from West Berkshire, match-funded by the Oxfordshire authorities, to get the scheme – to include the country’s first hydrogen powered bus – running.
“Wouldn’t it be great if Newbury could lead the way in this?” she said.
Mrs Farris wants the route to run between the two centres, with the Harwell Science Park central to the plans. The Harwell Park near Didcot is home to about 200 science and technology organisations, including £2bn of the UK’s ‘open
access national laboratories’ shared by scientists from the UK and abroad.
It is also home to many companies in the UK space sector.
“We always talk about the M4 corridor as our own ‘Silicon Valley’, but we always look east /west,” Mrs Farris said. “This is a science highway which leads from Newbury and Oxford, particularly at the Harwell Science Park.
“Many people from Newbury work there, and there will be an additional 10,000 jobs there – but the only way to get there from here is by train, via Reading or by car.”
The campaign comes just months after the Government shelved plans for an express road link between Oxford and Cambridge.
“I have launched a campaign to create a bus route between Newbury and Oxford with stops at the Harwell Science Park, Didcot, Milton Business Park and Abingdon,” said Mrs Farris.
“I know there was once a train route that ran directly between the two towns, and later a bus route which ran between Newbury and Didcot.
“I have been working with West Berkshire Council, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council to look at the route, funding arrangements and feasibility. There is an important environmental aspect to this. It will be the only form of public transport which directly links Newbury to the towns to its north, therefore an important driver to get people out of their cars.”