East-West Rail (EWR): Consultation updates [not speculation]

[ABB125]

Grant Shapps: The first thing I would do is cancel East-West rail to save £3-5m.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says East West Rail project should be cancelled

He said it would save £3-5 million

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

Well that doesnt bode well for government support

Surely it would be 3-5 billion?

 

[WatcherZero]

I assumed he was referring to development costs but wouldnt be first time a politician has cocked up their numbers.

 

[Sonik]

Grant Shapps: The first thing I would do is cancel East-West rail to save £3-5m.

Bizarre announcement, how can you cancel something that isn't even funded?

And £3-5m is chicken feed.

Might as well just say nothing/do nothing.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

When I go to Oxford Station I head straight to the bus station for a bus into the city centre. I do not see the need for an entrance on the Botley Road unless they build a large car park there.

Anyone even considering building a new car park in Oxford city centre is certifiably insane. Botley Road can’t cope with existing levels of traffic, let alone more.

There are plenty of pedestrian/cycle commuters from West Oxford, it makes a lot of sense to give them a direct entrance rather than funnelling everyone through the eastern side.

 

[Falcon1200]

There are plenty of pedestrian/cycle commuters from West Oxford, it makes a lot of sense to give them a direct entrance rather than funnelling everyone through the eastern side.

Yes indeed, and anything that reduces the crush over the footbridge when a Down train arrives is a Good Thing. Also depending on how the new station is arranged, access from the Down side to the new bus station might be just as quick as crossing to the Up side.

 

[Mollman]

Grant Shapps: The first thing I would do is cancel East-West rail to save £3-5m.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says East West Rail project should be cancelled

He said it would save £3-5 million

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

Well that doesnt bode well for government support

Finally, Levelling Up in action!

 

[zwk500]

Grant Shapps: The first thing I would do is cancel East-West rail to save £3-5m.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says East West Rail project should be cancelled

He said it would save £3-5 million

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

Well that doesnt bode well for government support

He's running in a leadership election where he would need to win a majority of Tory members, and EWR between Bedford and Cambridge has not exactly been popular with that demographic! It's an easy point to score for this election, and also forces other candidates to come up with some infrastructure proposals of their own.

Whether he would follow up this policy once in office is a very different matter.

 

[alexx]

He's running in a leadership election where he would need to win a majority of Tory members, and EWR between Bedford and Cambridge has not exactly been popular with that demographic! It's an easy point to score for this election, and also forces other candidates to come up with some infrastructure proposals of their own.

Whether he would follow up this policy once in office is a very different matter.

It's somewhat of a moot point as he dropped out of the leadership contest a couple of days ago anyway.

 

[zwk500]

It's somewhat of a moot point as he dropped out of the leadership contest a couple of days ago anyway.

True, although presumably Rishi's offered him a job if he wins to do so.

 

[alexx]

True, although presumably Rishi's offered him a job if he wins to do so.

Quite possibly - I see Shapps is backing Sunak in a somewhat predictable attempt to curry favour with the bookies favourite. No guarantee he'll get transport, and no guarantee this soundbite will be followed through with. Personally I hope they don't scrap it as, living at the Oxfordshire end of EWR, any journey towards that part of the world currently involves a trip into London which is somewhat wasteful. You're always going to have nimbies complaining for no apparent reason (just look at the residents of Summertown with the Oxford to Bicester section).

 

[Sonik]

He's running in a leadership election where he would need to win a majority of Tory members, and EWR between Bedford and Cambridge has not exactly been popular with that demographic! It's an easy point to score for this election, and also forces other candidates to come up with some infrastructure proposals of their own.

Whether he would follow up this policy once in office is a very different matter.

But it's also very popular with others, with cross party support. So it seems like a very bizarre choice to make for point scoring.

 

[Mikey C]

But it's also very popular with others, with cross party support. So it seems like a very bizarre choice to make for point scoring.

The nature of such leadership contests is that you need to produce headline grabbing policies at short notice...

 

[Sonik]

The nature of such leadership contests is that you need to produce headline grabbing policies at short notice..

I'd credit Shaps with more intelligence than that to be frank.

 

[Brush 4]

https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2022/07/15-uncertainty-grows-over-east-west.html
Further to the above

 

[swt_passenger]

https://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2022/07/15-uncertainty-grows-over-east-west.html
Further to the above

Another totally confused article. Phase 2 in the latest Shapps scare story is Bletchley to Bedford, the bit under way Bicester to Bletchley is phase 1.

 

[tspaul26]

£3-5million for Oxford to Bedford?

The project gets better value with every new article.

 

[Sonik]

Another totally confused article. Phase 2 in the latest Shapps scare story is Bletchley to Bedford, the bit under way Bicester to Bletchley is phase 1.

It isn't really news, because the later phases were essentially dead already - they never really existed outside of an idea, that wasn't funded.

So I'm not really sure what's to be gained by announcing it as such, other than perhaps a non-committal political fudge in an attempt to placate a few NIMBYs.

 

[fishwomp]

I'd credit Shaps with more intelligence than that to be frank.

No, he wasn't Frank, he was Michael (https://www.theguardian.com/politic...cond-job-as-millioniare-web-marketer-while-mp).

 

[Mikey C]

It isn't really news, because the later phases were essentially dead already - they never really existed outside of an idea, that wasn't funded.

So I'm not really sure what's to be gained by announcing it as such, other than perhaps a non-committal political fudge in an attempt to placate a few NIMBYs.

Nothing to do with NIMBYs, it's Tory leadership electioneering with Shapps wanting to show he can cut costs, to reduce taxation

 

[Sonik]

Nothing to do with NIMBYs, it's Tory leadership electioneering with Shapps wanting to show he can cut costs, to reduce taxation

The amounts concerned though are relatively trivial, essentially noise. Won't make any difference at all to taxation.

 

[Mikey C]

The amounts concerned though are relatively trivial, essentially noise. Won't make any difference at all to taxation.

It's just a soundbite, something to make it sound like he's being tough on expenditure. And as he quickly lost, one which will be forgotten about

 

[zwk500]

It's just a soundbite, something to make it sound like he's being tough on expenditure. And as he quickly lost, one which will be forgotten about

Oh, for a like button!

 

[Sonik]

It's just a soundbite, something to make it sound like he's being tough on expenditure. And as he quickly lost, one which will be forgotten about

Like I said before, it isn't really news. More an acknowledgement of reality.

 

[Tobbes]

When was the consultation on the Bedford - Cambridge route supposed to report?

 

[tspaul26]

When was the consultation on the Bedford - Cambridge route supposed to report?

Theoretically at the end of 2021, but there have been delays for various reasons.

 

[Tobbes]

Thanks, I thought I'd missed it. Presumably delayed until after the new PM is installed in September now, then.

 

[swt_passenger]

Thanks, I thought I'd missed it. Presumably delayed until after the new PM is installed in September now, then.

AIUI from discussions here back in May the final statutory consultation hasn’t even started yet, last years was still preliminary stuff.

 

[Tobbes]

Ah, many thanks - I thought that this was it, and we'd get a go/no-go decision sometime this year with the required legislation. Sod.

 

[Julia]

Just noticed that the latest Bedford local plan is out for consultation, and it appears to have dropped a (controversial) "new town" about 1-2 miles west of St Neots - with no direct access to rail, A1 or A421 - in favour of a (no doubt soon to be controversial) "new town" to the south of Little Barford, alongside the ECML and no doubt close to both EWR and the proposed A421.

 

[Dunnyrail]

There was talk some years back of a new town or at least a very large house building program at Tempsford, looks like that may have been dusted off and moved somewhat North. Either way currently there is no exit on the current A428 from Black Cat near where this or any potential interchange station between East West and ECML may be.