The entire East West Rail corridor has experienced significant growth over the last decade. The Government's Sustainable Communities Plan will see further major growth over the next 25 years focused along it at Stansted Airport, Bedford, Luton, Milton Keynes and Aylesbury.
The route ties into these key growth areas and provides the opportunity for local and regional journeys, between these regional 'hubs', which are extremely difficult at present. The western section of the scheme between Bedford and Oxford opens up a number of passenger and freight opportunities:
- Provides a strategic connection between the radial routes out of London facilitating journeys without the need to interchange through London;
- Provides flexibility in the network and alternative diversion routes, including potential relief to the most congested southern sections of the radial routes out of London and local connections such as a link to Aylesbury:
- A real public transport alternative to the use of the trunk road network in an area where there is no high capacity road network linking the key centres of Milton Keynes, Bicester, Aylesbury and Oxford;
- Inter-connects three of the growth area in the region (Milton Keynes, Aylesbury and Bedford), as identified in the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan;
- The ability to be constructed in phases starting at the western end. The Bedford-Oxford section makes use of existing infrastructure, and does not require Transport and Works Act procedures.
East West Rail is recognised as a key policy objective in relevant strategic planning documents and by all relevant authorities. The South East of England Regional Assembly and the London South Midlands Multi Modal Study have both recently issued strong supporting statements for the wider scheme which recognise the major part the scheme can play in future strategic transport plans. The scheme is recognised in Regional Planning Guidance, is declared in every relevant Local Transport Plan along the route and is supported in Local Plans.
