Dear Friends and Colleagues,
ERTA supports an East-West Railway but not an Expressway Road. The reasons for this is that a. the closure of the origional railway made a deficit of rail east-west which throws all subsequent land movements onto roads fuelling demand for more roads. Only the railway can dent this vicious cycle. b. These trunk roads fill up with traffic and then what? Build yet more bypasses to bypass and bypass. It is all a great land take when we need land for food production, conservation, housing and employment - striking the balance. c. The road way will heap traffic up at urban areas and junctions with other road-ways like M1 and cause long tailbacks as volume exceeds capacity. Only our programme of local reopenings can again dent this trend and it is a need for public and Government will to change to foster modal shift through more and better choices.
ERTA supports the east-west rail scheme but whereas Oxford-Bedford is more or less a straight forward rebuild and relay trajectory along a former trackbed, East of Bedford is more problematic. We want a reopening utilising more of the old route with modest deviations where blockages exist like at Blunham and Gamlingay and to enter Cambridge to link with the proposed new Addenbrookes Station/alias Cambridge South. Alas one scheme proposed bypassing Bedford via Wixams to Shepreth and onother suggests arcing via a second station for St Neots to Cambourne and enter Cambridge via Chesterton Junction. This ill-conceived idea is a great way round and has many issues which delay a to b of rail travel than assist it. NIMBYISM is a problem, but a clear defined route to discuss and work with in planning terms is what the theatre of Bedford-Cambridge needs and allay fears uncessarily whipped up in the absence of definiton..
Please sign the petition and stop this horrible road scheme as a starter for more of what we wish for!
Please sign and share this petition with all your friends and family https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/227699 . If only 15% of Oxfordshire’s 650,000 population signed this petition we might at last get some proper debate in parliament and full disclosure of all the costs that will be associated with this proposed Road and Rail construction, the doubling of housing numbers and residents and all the costs of providing the extra schools, hospitals, surgeries and infrastructure that will be required and which has not yet been revealed. Most people who love living in Oxfordshire believe that the proposed £4.5 Billions of Government spending should be directed to improving and modernising existing roads and railways, concentrating on measures to reduce noise and air pollution and improve traffic flows and road junctions.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Pill
ERTA Officer.
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