Decision time for East West Rail, says Theo Chalmers

Theo Chalmers

Theo Chalmers is director of Verve Public Relations and chairman of Urban Eden. www.urbaneden.org www.vervepr.co.uk e: t.chalmers@vervepr.co.uk 01908 275271

Crossings concerns mean decision time is now, East West Rail

Irecently cast my mind, once more, over that sticky toffee pudding of inadequate foresight and woeful planning that is East West Rail or the Varsity Line as it was once known as it linked Oxford with Cambridge. My latest research reveals that what this pudding desperately needs is a large helping of whipped cream commitment with a dash of maple syrup determination and a big dollop of chopped-nuts decision-making.

The most pressing questions are what is happening to the level crossings at Woburn Sands, Fenny Stratford and on the V10 Brickhill Street at Bow Brickhill. When the reopened EWR is fully operational, it is estimated that each crossing will close ten times, for up to a total of 40 minutes, in an hour.

Can you begin to even imagine the grief this will cause?

The Bow Brickhill crossing, near the headquarters of Red Bull Racing and others at Tilbrook and Caldecotte Park, is the one where formal Milton Keynes Council documents supporting intensive development of both Caldecotte Site C and South Caldecotte - the areas currently being filled with Magna Park-style megawarehouses - claimed that setting aside land for a new bridge over the rail link was not required. A humpback bridge would do.

However, we later learned via a Freedom of Information request that: “No feasibility work for a bridge over the railway was carried out or commissioned by the council”. Effectively this means that the hundreds of lorries a day that will service the new mega-warehouses will be forced on to the A5 and will not be able to use the V10 to seek access to the M1.

So let’s see what EWR - where, it seems, absolutely nothing has been decided or committed to or determined - have said about it. “We have sent consultation land plans to landowners who could potentially be affected by our proposals and our dedicated land team are holding remote meetings with landowners to give support, advice and to share information,” an EWR spokeswoman tells me. “No homes are currently subject to a compulsory purchase order at this stage.”

And yet we know that homeowners have been written to, particularly in Woburn Sands where residents are slowly building a head of steam which may, it must be assumed, be released somewhat explosively should EWR continue to make no decision or the wrong ones.

There seem to be three options acknowledged by EWR at Woburn Sands. Milton Keynes South MP Iain Stewart, in whose constituency Woburn Sands sits, has a fourth. Option 1 Closing the crossing and building a bypass from Newport Road opposite Cross End Road, running south to reach the Bow Brickhill Road. Traffic would then enter Woburn Sands either via Bow Brickhill Road or via an extension running through the allotments and Edgewick Farm into Hardwick Road over a new bridge. Option 2 Closing the crossings ten times for up to 40 minutes per hour and simply seeing how the residents and users of Woburn Sands can handle it. Once the Varsity Line is reopened, the level crossing will be closed at least 50 per cent of the time and likely even longer once long, heavy and slow freight trains between the nationally important freight ports of Southampton and Felixstowe - Britain’s busiest - join the route. Option 3 Build a bridge where the level crossing is. Because of the layout of houses and the Station Hotel pub near the current level crossing, that would be extremely costly and difficult and most probably require a road detour - which brings us back to Option 1- with the loss of allotments and heavy road traffic very near some lovely, expensive homes.

MP Iain Stewart pictured, however, has his own ideas for an Option 4. “I have been made aware of a number of residents in houses close to the line who have received communications from EWR about compulsory purchases,” he says. “While I have not seen the correspondence in question, it is creating the impression among some that a decision on the project details has already been made and that this consultation is a ‘going through the motions’ exercise rather than it being a genuine opportunity for local communities to shape the project.”

His concept is one where the rail line goes underneath Newport Road and Station Road.

“My amateur observations of the line of route to the east and west of the existing Woburn Sands station suggest that it would be feasible for the line to descend into a cutting east of Bow Brickhill station to a depth by Woburn Sands that would allow Newport/Station Road to form a bridge over the railway without inclines of the gradient that renders a traditional road bridge inappropriate,” Mr Stewart says. “Such an option would actually improve existing traffic flow as there would be no level crossing at all.”

This idea is not without merit but would require extensive line closures and vast expense.

So how is EWR progressing this fullyfunded line? The East West Main Line Partnership Strategic Board held its latest meeting in March The only representative from Milton Keynes was the council’s strategic lead transport planning and policy James Povey.

According to the minutes, published in June, the 2021 public consultation report was due to be published in the summer (as I write, it has not). East West Rail Company’s strategy director Will Gallagher recognised this creates some uncertainty. The reason it was taking a time was that the company is genuinely taking into account the feedback which has been received.

Cllr Michael Headley, representing Bedford Borough Council, voiced his concerns about engagement with residents impacted by the potential alignment, who are living with uncertainty. Local representative groups are restricted to councillors but Mr Gallagher said EWR was examining how it engages with local residents as well as representative groups. He promised an update in due course.

I put some queries to Rebecca Griffin, EWR press manager until last month - she has now moved overseas. “In terms of where we are right now, people living in towns and villages across the potential East West Rail route and their community representatives were extremely generous in their time and expertise during the 2021 Consultation, giving EWR a significant - and very welcome - challenge to see how and where we could change and improve East West Rail,” she tells me.

EWR had received more than 9,000 responses and, within these, more than 160,000 individual matters were raised.

“All of these responses are being reviewed and considered by our expert team. We have a duty to take all of this feedback into real consideration - which takes time - and will publish a report summarising the consultation feedback as well as information on how the feedback has been used to inform plans for the railway once we have completed that work.”

My latest efforts to get any sort of answers out of EWR were to the question: Is there any update as to a formal response to the 2021 consultation or to any plans for the three problematic level crossings in MK?

Head of communications Hannah Staunton replies: “We have no further update. Is there a specific question you have?”.

Indeed I did and I have specific further questions but at time of writing they remain unanswered. Meanwhile everybody seems to be simply whistling in the dark. Cheerio.

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