Central Bedfordshire Council has welcomed Government’s support for plans to restore the rail link from Oxford to Bletchley and Bedford, with a spur to Milton Keynes.
The Autumn Statement by Chancellor George Osborne last Tuesday put the east-west rail link firmly in the National Infrastructure Plan, ensuring its inclusion in the Government’s rail investment programme for 2014 to 2019.
The Government will support Network Rail to develop the £270 million rail link between Oxford and Bedford and before July 2012, the Government will announce how it will implement this plan subject to support from local contributions, based on a developed business case.
Last week’s announcement is fantastic news for Central Bedfordshire, with Cllr Ken Matthews, Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive member for Strategic Planning and Economic Development commenting: “It is great to have Government’s support to make these important improvements. An east-west new rail link would cut journey times (train versus car) between Oxford and Milton Keynes or Bedford by more than half, and between Winslow and Oxford by almost two thirds - providing local residents with faster, more direct access to these towns and cities.
“This can only help to benefit the area by bringing business in, promoting economic growth and can only help to strengthen local enterprise ventures.
“We look forward to further working with the Department for Transport, Network Rail, and the Consortium on this vital scheme for the area.”
Consortium members will meet next week to plan their next steps.