Cambridgeshire County Council Draft EWR Response
Although the second non-statutory EWR Consultation closed on June 9, Cambridgeshire County Council were granted an extension (because of elections and delays resulting from a change in administration).
The draft CCC response was published today, ahead of the June 22 Highways and Transport Committee meeting at which Councillors will discuss, possibly amend and probably approve a response.
In this blog I’ve tried to pick out the key points that affect St Neots, and rural villages of Abbotsley, Great Gransden, Waresley, Toseland and Yelling who will potentially be heavily affected by the choice of route.
1. CCC are agnostic to route choice in the St Neots area
The key sentence here is that “Officers do not consider that there is sufficient information available on the location and quantum of this growth to make any solid recommendation on alignment of EWR between Clapham Green and the Eversdens” (which is the section which includes St Neots.
The St Neots Town Council response, which I wrote the first draft for, was also agnostic about route choice, but because of the lack of information on the economic and utility benefits to existing residents, and also because EWR fails to quantify the environmental, ecological, and social impacts to existing communities.
The Officer’s reasoning in the CCC report is different. They are asking for more information on future large housing developments (such as Dennybrook Village, and Tempsford) before making their choice.
2. EWR is really a justification for huge new housing developments
There is strange circular reasoning going on. EWR is being used to justify the construction of huge new housing developments, but the route is dependent on which housing developments are built. I’m not against it per se, but it’s clear that the Ox-Cam Arc project is being used to justify massive negative changes in the rural character of the East of England.
It seems apparent that the train station and route choice will be chosen to serve these future residents of unbuilt mega-developments (in the Tempsford area), and not existing residents of St Neots or the surrounding villages.
The Draft response does ask EWR to consider building a station close to Wintringham, acknowledging perhaps that St Neots East residents will be getting most of the negative consequences and few of the benefits.
3. CCC is concerned about the impact of viaducts and embankments
Without specifically calling out the proposed 39ft viaduct(s) in St Neots East, CCC does express concerns about the consequence of the vertical elevation of the railway line on communities:
4. CCC demands an electrified railway
Recognising that we are in the midst of a climate emergency, the CCC draft response does not ever indulge with the silly EWR fantasies of hydrogen and battery-powered trains (both of which would have higher CO2 emissions than an electrified line). Instead, they simply ask that the line is electrified during the construction process:
Going into a bit more detail in the Appendix:
This is of course a draft report that has not been fully considered or approved by Councillors, so might yet change. I don’t disagree with any of these recommendations, but I am concerned that the needs of future residents are being given more weight than those of existing communities.
